Robert

Robert
King Robert I of Scotland, national hero of Scotland
PronunciationEnglish: /ˈrɒbərt/
French: [ʁɔbɛʁ]
German: [ˈʁoːbɛʁt]
Czech: [ˈrobɛrt]
Slovak: [ˈrɔ(ː)bert]
Serbo-Croatian: [rǒbert]
Armenian: [rɔbɛɾt]
GenderMale
Origin
Language(s)Indo-European
Germanic
Meaning"fame-bright", "glory-bright", "shining with glory", "godlike-bright"
Region of originGermanic countries (England, Scotland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Iceland, Scandinavian region (Denmark, Sweden, Norway))
Other names
DerivedHrōþiberhtaz
Related namesVariants
Rupert, Ruprecht
Boris
Robrecht
Rodbert
Raivis
Raivo
Roberts
Robin
Robinette
Roberta (female form)
Nicknames
Rob (short form),
Robb (short form),
Roby (nickname),
Robbie (nickname),
Robby (nickname),
Ro (nickname),
Roe (nickname),
Bob (nickname),
Bobby (nickname),
Bert (nickname),
Bertie (nickname)
See alsoRoger, Roland, Rudolph, Roderick, Roman, Rose, Herbert, Waldemar, Vladimir

The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic *Hrōþi- "fame" and *berhta- "bright" (Hrōþiberhtaz).[1] Compare Old Dutch Robrecht and Old High German Hrodebert (a compound of Hruod (Old Norse: Hróðr) "fame, glory, honour, praise, renown, godlike" and berht "bright, light, shining"). It is the second most frequently used given name of ancient Germanic origin.[2][3] It is also in use as a surname. Another commonly used form of the name is Rupert.

After becoming widely used in Continental Europe, the name entered England in its Old French form Robert, where an Old English cognate form (Hrēodbēorht, Hrodberht, Hrēodbēorð, Hrœdbœrð, Hrœdberð, Hrōðberχtŕ) had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto.

Robert is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Scots, Danish, and Icelandic. It can be used as a French, Polish, Irish, Finnish, Romanian, and Estonian name as well.

Variations

Bert, Bertie, Berto, Bertus (also short for Albert or Herbert)

  • Beto (Portuguese, Spanish)
  • Betinho (Portuguese)
  • Bo, Bob, Bobbie, Bobby
  • Beau
  • Chrodobert, Chrodobrecht (Frankish)
  • Dobbie, Dobby
  • Boris (Bulgarian) (possibly not etymologically connected, but linked together through nickname "Bob")
  • Hob, Hopkin (Medieval English)
  • Hopcyn (Welsh)
  • Hrodberaht, Hrodebert, Hrodpreht (Old High German)
  • Rab, Rabbie (Scots)
  • Raibeart (Scottish Gaelic)
  • Rhobert (Welsh)
  • Roibeárd, Riobárd (Irish)
  • Rob, Robb, Robbie, Robby (also short for Robin)
  • Rod
  • Robbe (Dutch, Frisian and Low German short form)
  • Roban
  • Robban (Swedish)
  • Robbert (Dutch)
  • Robbi, Hrobbi, Hrobjartur, Bjartur, Art (Icelandic)
  • Robertus, Robert (Indonesian)
  • Robercik or Robuś (Polish, "Little Robert")
  • Robere (Old French)
  • Ροβῆρος, Rovēros (Greek)
  • Róbert (Hungarian, Icelandic, Slovak)
  • Robertas (Lithuanian)
  • Roberto (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish)
  • Robertino (Italian, "Little Robert")
  • Robertinho (Portuguese, "Little Robert")
  • Роберт (Robert), Роман (Roman) (Russian)
  • Ροβέρτος, Rovértos (Greek)
  • Raivo (Estonian)
  • Roberts (Latvian)
  • Raivis (Latvian form of the Estonian variant)
  • Robertson (English given name)
  • Robertus (Latin)
  • Robetus (Medieval misspelling?)
  • Robi (Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian)
  • Röbi (Swiss German)
  • Robin (Medieval diminutive in English, Dutch, Swedish)
  • Robo
  • Robrecht (Old Dutch)
  • Rochbert
  • Rodbeard, Rodbeart
  • Rodbert, Rodebert, Rotbert, Roteberht, Rotebert (Germanic)
  • Rodbertus, Rodepertus (Latin)
  • Rodebrecht (Old German)
  • Röpke (Low German diminutive form)
  • Rotbryht (Old English)
  • Rothbert
  • Roopertti, Pertti, Roope (Finnish)
  • Robertukka, Roopertukka, Tuukka (Finnish nicknames)
  • Ropars, Ropartz, Roparzh (Breton)
  • Ruben, Rupen, Roupen (Armenian)
  • Reuben (Hebrew)
  • Rutbert, Rubert, Ruby (Old Dutch)
  • Rudebet, Rudbert, Rudbert, Rudpert, Rudbrecht, Rudprecht
  • Rupert (Dutch, English, German, Polish)
  • Ruperto (Spanish)
  • Rupertus, Rvpertvs (Latin)
  • Rutpert, Ruppert, Rupprecht, Ruprecht (Upper German)
  • Trebor (reversal)
  • Feminine forms:
  • Bobbi, Bobbie
  • Robbi, Robbie
  • Roberta
  • Robertina, Robertine
  • Robina
  • Robyn, Robynne
  • Ruprette, Rupretta (archaic French)
  • Surnames:
  • Robert, Roberts, Robertson, Roberson, Robinson, Robero, Romero, Bertson, Bertke, Robertsen, Robertov, Robright

Popularity and trivia

Robert I of Normandy a.k.a. Robert the Magnificent

The name Robert was a royal name in France, Germany, Scotland and England during the medieval period, and was the name of several kings, dukes, and other rulers and noblemen. It was one of the most popular male names in medieval Europe, likely due to its frequent usage amongst royalty and nobility. To this day, Robert remains one of the most frequently given male names.

Robert was in the top 10 most given boys' names in the United States for 47 years, from 1925 to 1972.[4] While some names become less frequently used due to negative associations, Robert is still widely used despite its connection to many negatively evaluated historical figures.

It is the fourth most common name in the United States, according to 100 years of Social Security Administration naming and mortality data.[5] There are 3,085,000 males and 13,571 females[6] with this name, for a total of 3,098,571 people with this name.

In Italy during the Second World War, the form Roberto briefly acquired a new meaning derived from, and referring to the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.[7]

The name's second component, *berhta-, is the original root for the modern English word "bright".[8]

People named Robert

Royalty

Kings of Scotland
Kings of France
King of Naples
King of Germany
King of Hungary and Croatia
King of Bulgaria
Dukes of Normandy
  • Robert I, Duke of Normandy (1000–1035), also known as Robert the Magnificent or Robert the Devil; father of William the Conqueror
  • Robert Curthose (c.1051–1134, son of William the Conqueror, claimant to throne of Kingdom of England.
Duke of Chartres
Duke of Parma
Count of Flanders
Crown Prince of Bavaria
Latin Emperor
Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Sicily and Prince of Benevento
Princes of Capua
  • Robert I of Capua (died 1120), ruling Prince of Capua
  • Robert II of Capua (died 1156), ruling Prince of Capua
  • Robert III of Capua (1153–1158), Prince of Capua
Counts and Lords of Artois
Franconian Babenbergers/Robertian Capetians
  • Robert II, Count of Hesbaye (died 807), of Worms, Germany (a.k.a. Rutpert II, Hruodbertus II)
  • Robert III, Count of Worms (800–834), Germany (a.k.a. Rutpert III, Hruodbertus III)
  • Robert the Strong (c. 830 – 866) (a.k.a. Rutpert IV, Hruodbertus IV)
Others

Medieval figures

Folk heroes

  • Robert Huntington, known as Robin Hood, legendary heroic outlaw and nobleman originally depicted in English folklore, highly skilled archer and swordsman, sometimes regarded as a national hero of England
  • Robert Roy Macgregor (1671–1734), Scottish outlaw and national hero

Nobility

Religious figures and saints

  • Saint Robert Bellarmine (died in 1621), Jesuit Doctor of the Church, one of the leaders of Roman Inquisition and Galileo affair
  • Saint Robert of Bury (died 1181)
  • Saint Robert of Knaresborough (13th century) medieval English hermit and Catholic saint.
  • Robert Holman (1521–1579), 36th Abbot of Ten Duinen Abbey
  • Saint Robert of Molesme (d. 1111), founder of the Cistercian Order
  • Saint Robert of Newminster (d. 1159), established the Abbey of Newminster at Morpeth, Northumberland
  • Saint Robert Lawrence (died 1535), Carthusian priest and martyr of England
  • Blessed Robert Meyler (died 1581), Irish sailor martyred in Wexford
  • Robert Scurlock (died 1581), young Irish lay man and martyr
  • Blessed Roberto Malatesta (15th century), young Italian prince and member of the secular Franciscan order. Declared blessed by popular acclaim.[9]
  • Blessed Robert Grissold (died 1604), English layman and martyr
  • Roberto of La Florida (dates unknown), Catholic Native American martyr
  • Robert Fitzgerald (died 1581), Irish Catholic layman and martyr
  • Roberto de Nobili (1577–1656), Italian Jesuit missionary to Southern India
  • Roberto de' Nobili (1541–1559), Roman Catholic cardinal
  • Robert Naoussi (20th century) a young Cameroonian man who suffered from leprosy and died with a reputation for holiness. His cause for sainthood is underway.[10]
  • Robert de Sorbon (1201–1274), French theologian and founder of College of Sorbonne
  • Saint Robert de Turlande (d. 1067), founding abbot of the Abbey of Casa Dei, also called Chaise-Dieu
  • Robert Francis Prevost (born 1955), American Roman Catholic priest who became Pope Leo XIV.

Presidents and prime ministers

British Prime Ministers
Australian Prime Ministers
Presidents and Prime Ministers from Asia / Oceania
Presidents and Prime Ministers from Europe
Presidents and Prime Ministers from the Americas

Dictators

Secretaries of Defense

Wartime figures and military leaders

American military
British / Scottish military
Australian military
German / Austrian military
  • Robert von Eggenberg (1546–1611), Austrian colonel-general
  • Robert Gysae (1911–1989), a German U-boat commander in the Kriegsmarine during World War II
  • Robert Ritter von Greim (1892–1945), German Field Marshal and pilot
  • Robert Kosch (1856–1942), Prussian general in the Imperial German army
  • Robert Zapp (1904–1964), German U-boat commander in World War II
Irish military
  • Robert Emmet (1778–1803), Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader
Cuban military
Italian military
French military
  • Robert Nivelle (1856–1924), French artillery officer who led the French forces during World War I as commander in-chief of French army
Russian military

Other military

Nazis

Nuclear physicists

Explorers

  • Robert Ballard (born 1942), retired United States Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island
  • Robert Bartlett (1875–1946), Newfoundland-born American Arctic explorer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, accompanied United States Navy Commander Robert Peary on his attempts to reach the North Pole
  • Robert O'Hara Burke (1821–1861), Irish soldier and police officer who explored Australia, leader of the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north
  • Robert Dudley (1574–1649), English explorer and cartographer
  • Sir Robert McClure (1807–1873), Irish explorer of the Arctic who in 1854 traversed the Northwest Passage by boat and sledge and was the first to circumnavigate the Americas
  • Robert Peary (1856–1920), American explorer and United States Navy officer who made several expeditions to the Arctic, reached the geographic North Pole with his expedition on April 6, 1909, believed to be the first man to have ever reached the North Pole
  • Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912), British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions
  • Robert Swan (born 1956), the first person to walk to both Poles

Intelligence officers

Movie industry

Musicians

Record producers and DJs
  • Robert Abisi (born 1989), member of the electronic music and DJ duo Lost Kings
  • Robert Babicz (born 1973), Polish born German electronic music producer, DJ and mastering engineer
  • Robert van de Corput (born 1988), real name of the award-winning Dutch DJ, twice worlds No.1 DJ, composer and music producer Hardwell
  • Robert DeLong (born 1986), American electronic musician, record producer, composer and performer
  • Robert Hughes (fl. 2010s–2020s), real name of the Canadian trap music DJ and record producer known as Vincent and Tiger Drool
  • Robert Miles (1969–2017), Swiss-born Italian DJ and record producer, inventor of the dream trance genre;
  • Robert Toomey (1955–2022), real name of the American DJ, keyboardist and mixologist Brother Cleve
  • Robert "Bob" Rifo (born 1977), founder of the Italian electronic music project The Bloody Beetroots
  • Robert "Rob" Swire (born 1982), Australian electronic music producer and DJ
Singers
  • Roberto Carlos (born 1941), Brazilian singer-songwriter, also known as King of Latin Music or simply The King
  • Robert "Bob" Chilcott (born 1955), British choral composer, conductor, and singer
  • Robert "Bob" Crosby (1913–1993), American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats
  • Robert "Bobby" Darin (1936–1973), American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, impressionist, and actor
  • Robert Francis (born 1987), American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter
  • Robert Kelly (born 1967), American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former semi-professional basketball player who helped redefine R&B and hip hop, earning the nicknames "King of R&B" and "King of Pop-Soul"
  • Robert Johnson (1911–1938), American blues singer-songwriter and musician
  • Robert "Bob" Marley (1945–1981), Jamaican singer-songwriter
  • Robert "Bobby" McFerrin (born 1950), American musician, singer, conductor, arranger and record producer
  • Roberto "Bert" Nievera (1936–2018), Filipino-American singer
  • Robert Palmer (1949–2003), English composer, songwriter, singer and record producer;
  • Robert Ritchie (born 1971), American singer-songwriter, rapper, musician, record producer, and actor known as Kid Rock
  • Robert "Bob" Seger (born 1945), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • Robert Tepper (born 1950), American songwriter, composer, recording artist and singer
  • Robert "Bobby" Vee (1943–2016), American singer, songwriter, musician and teen idol
  • Robert "Robbie" Williams (born 1974), British singer and songwriter
  • Robert "Rob" Zombie (born 1965), American musician, singer, songwriter, programmer, voice actor, filmmaker and founding member of the heavy metal band White Zombie
  • Robert Allen Zimmerman (born 1941), real name of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan
Band members
Rappers
  • Robert Rihmeek Williams (born 1987), American rapper, singer and activist known as Meek Mill
  • Robert van Winkle (born 1967), real name of American rapper, actor, and television host Vanilla Ice
  • Robert Ginyard (born 1967), real name of American hip hop artist Rob Base
Composers
  • Robert Kajanus (1856–1933), Finnish composer, conductor and teacher, founder of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Robert Schumann (1810–1856), German composer and music critic, one of the greatest composers of romantic era
  • Robert Volkmann (1815–1883), German composer
  • Robert "Bob" Wiseman (born 1962), Canadian film composer, songwriter and music teacher
Instrumentalists
  • Robert "Rob" Barrett (born 1969), guitarist for death metal band Cannibal Corpse
  • Robert "Bobby" Hackett (1915–1976), American jazz musician
  • Robert "Bob" Kerr (born 1940), comic musician who plays trumpet and cornet
  • Robert Mirabal (born 1966), Native American musician and flute player
  • Robert "Rob" Scallon (born 1990), American YouTuber, musician and multi-instrumentalist

Scientists

  • Robert Arno, engineer
  • Robert Balch (born 1945), American sociologist
  • Robert Boyle (1627–1691), British natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, first modern chemist, and one of the founders of modern chemistry
  • Robert Bunsen (1811–1899), German chemist who discovered caesium in 1860 and rubidium in 1861, pioneer of photochemistry and organoarsenic chemistry and developer of the Bunsen burner
  • Robert F. Christy (1916–2012), Canadian-American theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, one of the last surviving people to have worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II
  • Robert Dorsey Coale (1857–1915), American chemist and colonel, professor and dean at the University of Maryland, Baltimore
  • Robert Colebunders (born 1949/1950), Belgian clinician and researcher
  • Robert Darwin (1766–1848), English medical doctor, father of the naturalist Charles Robert Darwin
  • Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1881–1957), French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist, developer of ballistic missiles, father of modern rocketry
  • Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing a commercially successful steamboat known as North River Steamboat
  • Robert H. Goddard (1882–1945), American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor, credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, father of modern rocketry
  • Robert C. Green (fl. 1970s–2020s), American medical geneticist, physician, and public health researcher
  • Robert J. Van de Graaff (1901–1967), engineer and physicist, inventor of high-voltage Van de Graaff generators
  • Robert Gardiner Hill (1811–1878), British surgeon specialising in the treatment of lunacy
  • Robert Hooke (1635–1703), English natural philosopher, architect and polymath, best known for discovering and naming the cell in 1665
  • Sir Robert Jones, 1st Baronet (1857–1933), Welsh orthopaedic surgeon who helped to establish the modern specialty of orthopaedic surgery in Britain, early proponent of the use of radiography in orthopaedics, and described the eponymous Jones fracture
  • Robert Koch (1843–1910), German physician and microbiologist, founder of modern bacteriology, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1905 for his research on Tuberculosis
  • Robert Liston (1794–1847), Scottish surgeon
  • Robert F. Maronde (1920–2008), professor at University of Southern California Medical School
  • Robert Andrews Millikan (1868–1953), American experimental physicist honored with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for the measurement of the elementary electric charge and for his work on the photoelectric effect
  • Robert Mitchell (geologist) (fl. 1980s–2020s), Distinguished Professor at Western Washington University
  • Sir Robert Robinson (1886–1975), Nobel Prize and Medal of Freedom winning British organic chemist
  • Robert Allen Rolfe (1855–1921), English botanist specialising in the study of orchids
  • Robert Shapiro (1935–2011), professor emeritus of chemistry at New York University, best known for his work on the origin of life
  • Robert I. Tilling (born 1935), Geologist known for research in Hawaii
  • Robert Winston, Baron Winston (born 1940), British professor, medical doctor, scientist
  • Robert Crooke Wood (1799–1869), American physicist and neurologist during the American Civil War
  • Robert W. Wood (1868–1955), American physicist and inventor who is often cited as being a pivotal contributor to the field of optics and a pioneer of infrared photography and ultraviolet photography
  • Robert J. White (1926–2010), American neurosurgeon best known for his head transplants on living monkeys

Prison officials

Criminals

  • Robert J. Anderson (1966–2006), American murderer
  • Robert Bales (born 1973), former United States army soldier who committed the Kandahar massacre
  • Robert John Bardo (born 1970), American assassin of Rebecca Schaeffer
  • Robert Biehler (1934–1993), American serial killer
  • Robert Berdella, American serial killer, known as The Kansas City Butcher and The Collector
  • Robert H. Birch, (c. 1827 – c. 1866), American criminal
  • Robert Black (1947–2016), Scottish serial killer
  • Robert Eugene Brashers (1958–1999), American serial killer and rapist
  • Robert Charles Browne (born 1952), American murderer
  • Robert Anthony Buell (1940–2002), American serial killer
  • Robert Francis Burns (1840–1883), Irish Australian murderer and probable serial killer
  • Robert Edward Chambliss (1904–1985), white supremacist terrorist
  • Robert Glen Coe (1956–2000), American murderer
  • Robert Wayne Danielson (1946–1995), American serial killer
  • Robert Durst (1943–2022), American convicted murderer
  • Robert Mark Edwards (born 1961), American murderer
  • Robert William Fisher (born 1961), American fugitive
  • Robert Newton Ford, 19th century American outlaw
  • Robert Garrow (1936–1978), American spree killer
  • Robert Hansen (1939–2014), American serial killer known as "The Butcher Baker"
  • Robert Wayne Harris (1972–2012), American mass murderer and serial killer
  • Robert Hawkins (born c. 1988), mass murderer who perpetrated the Westroads Mall shooting
  • Robert Dale Henderson (1945–1993), American spree killer
  • Robert Hohenberger (1943–1978), American criminal, kidnapper and serial rapist
  • Robert Wesley Knighton (1941–2003), American serial killer
  • Robert Seldon Lady (born 1954), United States agent convicted of kidnapping in Italy
  • Robert Liberty (1947–1971), American serial killer
  • Robert A. Long (born 1999), American spree killer who perpetrated the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings
  • Robert "Bobby" Long (1953–2019), American serial killer and rapist
  • Robert Jay Mathews (1953–1984), American neo-Nazi terrorist and the leader of The Order, an American white supremacist militant group
  • Robert Maudsley (born 1953), English serial killer
  • Robert Napper (born 1966), British serial killer
  • Robert Palin (c.1835–1861), convict transported to Western Australia
  • Robert Perrino (1938–1992), Bonanno crime family associate and murder victim
  • Robert Pickton (1949–2024), Canadian serial killer
  • Robert Ben Rhoades (born 1945), American serial killer known as "The Truck Stop Killer"
  • Robert Dale Rowell (1955–2005), American murderer
  • Robert Lloyd Schellenberg (born 1982), Canadian drug contrabandist
  • Robert M. Shelton (1929–2003), leader of United Klans of America, a Ku Klux Klan group
  • Robert Steinhäuser (1983–2002), German mass murderer and perpetrator of the Erfurt school massacre
  • Robert Stroud (1890–1963), a convicted murderer, American federal prisoner and author known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" who has been cited as one of the most notorious criminals in the United States
  • Robert Tilton (born 1946), American televangelist and fraudster
  • Robert Trimbole (1931–1987), Australian businessman, drug baron and organized crime boss
  • Robert Lee Yates (born 1952), American serial killer from Spokane, Washington
  • Robert Zarinsky (1940–2008), American murderer

Judges

Political figures

  • Robert Antropov (born 1965), Estonian politician
  • Robert Buckland (born 1968), Welsh Conservative Party politician and barrister who served as Solicitor General for England and Wales and Minister of State for Prisons, currently serving as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor
  • Robert J. Bulkley (1880–1965), United States Democratic Party Politician from Ohio;
  • Robert Baird (1798–1863), American clergyman and author
  • Robert "Bob" Brogoitti (1920-2009), member of the Oregon House of Representatives
  • Robert Byrd (1917–2010), American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010
  • Robert Chadwick (1879–1939), Pennsylvania State Representative
  • Robert J. Clendening (1914–1982), Pennsylvania State Representative
  • Robert Crosser (1874–1957), U.S. Representative from Ohio, the longest serving member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Ohio
  • Robert "Bob" Dole (1923–2021), American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996
  • Robert Budd Dwyer (1939–1987), the 30th State Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, best remembered for his public suicide on live TV;
  • Robert Eikhe (1890—1940), Latvian Bolshevik, provincial head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Siberia
  • Robert M. La Follette Jr. (1895–1953), U.S. senator from Wisconsin from 1925 to 1947
  • Robert H. Foerderer (1860–1903), U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania from 1901 to 1903
  • Robert J. Gamble (1851–1924), Representative and Senator from South Dakota
  • Robert Gichimu Githinji (fl. 1990s–2020s), Kenyan MP
  • Robert Goguen (born 1957), Canadian politician
  • Robert A. Green (1892–1973), U.S Representative from Florida
  • Arthur Robert Guinness (1846–1913), Zealand politician and Speaker of the House of Representatives
  • Robert Gunawardena (1904–1971), founder of the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party, diplomat
  • Robert Habeck (born 1969), German politician and writer, Vice Chancellor of Germany, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
  • Robert Goodloe Harper (1765–1825), a Federalist, member of the United States Senate from Maryland, serving from January 1816 until December of the same year
  • Robert Edward Jayatilaka (born 1911, fl. 1950s/60s), Sri Lankan Sinhala politician
  • Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968), American politician and lawyer who served as the 64th United States Attorney General, United States Senator for New York, brother of the U.S. president John F. Kennedy
  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (born 1954), American politician serving as the 26th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.
  • Sir Robert Laurie, 5th Baronet (c. 1738–1804), Scottish soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1804
  • Robert L. Henry (1864–1931), Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas from 1897 to 1917
  • Robert Hertzberg (born 1954), American politician serving as Majority Leader in the California State Senate
  • Robert Laimer (born 1966), Austrian politician
  • Robert Lowe (1811–1892), British statesman and pivotal figure who shaped British politics in the latter half of the 19th century
  • Robert James Manion, Canadian politician best known for leading the Conservative Party of Canada from 1938 until 1940
  • Robert Maxwell (1923–1991), Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor and member of parliament
  • Robert "Bob" Moses (1935–2021), American educator and civil rights activist
  • Robert "Beto" O'Rourke (born 1972), American politician
  • Robert Schmidt (1864–1943), Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany
  • Robert Sobukwe (1924–1978), prominent South African political dissident and teacher who founded and became the first president of the Pan Africanist Congress
  • Robert Roosevelt (1829–1906), a sportsman, author and politician who served as a United States representative from New York and as Minister to the Hague brother of the president of America Theodore Roosevelt;
  • Robert K. Steel (born 1951), American businessman, financier and government official
  • Robert A. Taft (1889–1953), American conservative politician, lawyer, and scion of the Taft family
  • Robert Toupin (born 1949), Canadian politician
  • Robert L. "Bob" Turner (born 1941), American businessman and politician
  • Roberto Mangabeira Unger (born 1947), Brazilian philosopher and politician
  • Robert F. Williams (1925–1996), American civil rights leader and author best known for serving as president of the Monroe, North Carolina chapter of the NAACP

Secretaries of War

Secretaries of State

Governors

Mayors

Founding Fathers of United States

Literary figures

Businessmen

  • Robert T. Bess (1889–after 1958), British Guiana-born American stockbroker and civil rights activist
  • Robert Budi Hartono (born 1941), Indonesian businessman, founder Djarum and owner of BCA
  • Robert Bosch, German industrialist, businessman, engineer and inventor, founder of Robert Bosch GmbH (Bosch)
  • Robert Kardashian, American attorney and businessman
  • Robert Kiyosaki, American businessman and author, founder of the Rich Dad Company
  • Robert Kyncl, American business executive, Chief Business Officer of YouTube and former Vice President of Content Acquisitions of Netflix
  • Robert Napier, Scottish marine engineer and founder of Robert Napier and Sons
  • Robert Miles Sloman, English-German shipbuilder, ship owner and sailor
  • Robert Smalls, American businessman, publisher, and politician
  • Robert F. Smith, American billionaire, businessman, philanthropist, chemical engineer, and investor, founder, chairman, and CEO of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners
  • Robert Trump, American real estate developer and business executive, brother of the president of America Donald Trump
  • Robert Winthrop, wealthy banker and capitalist in New York City

Administrators of NASA

Astronauts

Sportsmen

  • Robert Alexander (1910–1943), Irish sportsman
  • Roberto Baggio (born 1967), Italian professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder
  • Robert Bateson (born 1961), American football player
  • Robert Bundtzen (born 1949), American physician and dog musher
  • Roberto Carlos (born 1973), Brazilian footballer, widely regarded as one of the best football players of all time
  • Roberto Clemente (1934–1972), Puerto Rican baseball player
  • Robért Conway (born 1974), American professional wrestler
  • Robert Dunning (born 1997), American hurdler
  • Robert Emmiyan, Armenian and Soviet long jumper
  • Robert Enteric (fl. 1950s), French sprint canoer
  • Robert Fein (1907–1975), Austrian Olympic champion weightlifter
  • Robert Gaca (born 1980), former Polish professional footballer who played as defender
  • Robert Gibson (born 1801, fl. 1820s), English cricketer
  • Robert Gibson (1821–1875), English cricketer
  • Robert Gibson (born 1958), American wrestler
  • Robert Gibson (born 1986), Canadian rower
  • Robert Green, English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, played in the Premier League and Football League and for the England national team
  • Robert Griffin III, American football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League
  • Robert Gsellman (born 1993), American baseball player
  • Robert Harting, German Olympic gold medalist and world champion discus thrower
  • Robert Helenius, Finnish professional boxer
  • Robert Howard, Irish Grandmaster of taekwondo
  • Robert Hübner (1948–2025), German chess grandmaster and papyrologist
  • Robert "Bobby" Hull, Canadian ice hockey player who is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time
  • Róbert Jež, retired Slovak footballer
  • Robert "Bob" Kalsu, American football player and United States Army officer
  • Robert Kerr, Irish Canadian sprinter
  • Robert "Robbie" Kerr, British racing driver
  • Robert Kiprop (born 1997), Kenyan long-distance runner
  • Robert Kubica, Polish racing driver
  • Robert Lewandowski, Polish football player who plays as a striker for FC Barcelona and is the captain of the Poland national team
  • Robert Longerbeam (born 2001), American football player
  • Roberto López Ufarte, Basque footballer
  • Roberto Mancini, Italian football manager and former player who is the manager of the Italy national team
  • Robert "Bob" McNamara, American baseball player
  • Robert Alexander Michel Melki (born 1992), Swedish-Lebanese footballer
  • Robert Mocellini, Italian bobsledder
  • Robert Mühren, Dutch professional footballer
  • Robert Person (born 1969), American baseball player
  • Robert "Bobby" Orr, Canadian professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time
  • Robert Remus, American professional wrestler known as Sgt. Slaughter
  • Robert Shwartzman, Russian-Israeli racing driver
  • Robert Spears-Jennings (born 2004), American football player
  • Robert Stevenson (Scottish footballer), Scottish footballer
  • Robert "Rob" Terry, Welsh professional wrestler and bodybuilder
  • Robert Walls (1950–2025), Australian footballer, coach and commentator
  • Robert Whittaker, New Zealand-born Australian professional mixed martial artist
  • Robert Wickens, Canadian racing driver

Others

  • Robert Barclay Allardice, generally known as Captain Barclay, Scottish walker of the early 19th century, known as the celebrated pedestrian, considered the father of the 19th century sport of pedestrianism, a precursor to racewalking
  • Robert Arntfield, Canadian intensivist and medical educator
  • Robert T. Barrett, American painter, illustrator, and professor of illustration at Brigham Young University
  • Robert "Rob" Bell Jr., American author, speaker and former pastor
  • Rob Bell, American TV host and adventurer
  • Robert Bevan (artist), British painter, draughtsman and lithographer, founding member of the Camden Town Group, the London Group, and the Cumberland Market Group
  • Róbert Cvi Bornstein (1926–2024), Slovak antifascist fighter
  • Robert Boylestad, American academic
  • Robert S. Browne (1924–2004), American economist
  • Robert Capa, Hungarian war photographer and photojournalist
  • Robert Chung, Hong Kong academician, former Director of the Public Opinion Programme (POP) of the University of Hong Kong, head of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute
  • Robert Conquest, an English-American historian and poet
  • Robert Cornelius, American pioneer of photography and a lamp manufacturer who took the first light picture ever taken and whose self-taken portrait is the first known photographic portrait taken in America
  • Robert de Cotte, French architect-administrator, under whose design control of the royal buildings of France the earliest notes presaging the Rococo style were introduced
  • Robert G. Elliott, American executioner
  • Robert S. Ellwood (born 1933), American academic
  • Robert Elms, English writer and broadcaster
  • Robert Ford, multiple people with the name
  • Robert Garrow (1936–1978), American serial rapist and later spree killer
  • Robert Gibbings, Irish artist and author who was most noted for his work as a wood engraver and sculptor
  • Robert Gregg, Anglican Archbishop
  • Robert Gray, first Anglican Bishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of Africa
  • Robert Gray, English Bishop of Bristol
  • Robert Gray, American merchant sea captain who pioneered the maritime fur trade
  • Robert H. Gray, American data analyst, author and astronomer
  • Robert Grierson, Canadian missionary to Korea
  • Roparz Hemon (Robert Hemon), Breton author and scholar of Breton expression
  • Robert Henri, American painter and teacher
  • Robert Hichens, British sailor who was part of the deck crew on board the RMS Titanic as one of six quartermasters on board the vessel and was at the ships wheel when it struck the iceberg
  • Robert Hollander (1933–2021), American academic and translator, best known for his work regarding the poet Dante Alighieri
  • Carl Robert Jakobson, Estonian writer, politician and teacher, one of the most important people in the Estonian national awakening
  • Robert Jarczyk (born 1959), German television actor
  • Robert Knox, Irish bishop
  • Robert Lopez, award-winning American songwriter of musicals, best known for co-creating The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q, and for composing the songs featured in the 3D Disney computer animated films Frozen and Coco
  • Roberto Matta, Chilean painter and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art
  • Robert Mallard (1918–1958) African-American man who was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan
  • Bob Moir (1929–2016) was a Canadian television producer, sports commentator, and journalist
  • Robert Molyneux, English-American Catholic priest and Jesuit missionary to the United States
  • Robert de Montesquiou, French aesthete, Symbolist poet and art collector
  • Captain Robert Nairac, British Army officer in 14 Intelligence Company who was abducted from a pub in Dromintee, south County Armagh, during an undercover operation and assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on his fourth tour of duty in Northern Ireland as a Military Intelligence Liaison Officer
  • Robert Patterson (1743-1824), Irish-American educator and 4th director of the United States Mint
  • Robert Maskell Patterson (1787-1854), American professor and 6th director of the United States Mint
  • Robert M. Price, American theologian and writer
  • Robert "Bob" Ross, American painter, art instructor, and television host
  • Robert O. Scholz, American architect from Washington, D.C.
  • Robert Spoo (born 1957), American legal scholar and educator
  • Robert Livingston Rudolph, American bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church
  • Robert Stevens, British-born American photojournalist killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks
  • Robert Scotland Liddell, British war reporter and photographer
  • Robert Topala, also known as Zhenmuron, Swedish musician and video game developer known for developing the popular rhythm based arcade art game Geometry Dash
  • Robert Thompson (murderer), British murderer
  • Robert Vilvain (1575?–1663), English physician and philanthropist
  • Robert Barron (bishop), American prelate of the Catholic Church, author, theologian and evangelist, known for his Word on Fire ministry
  • Robert Wadlow, known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, an American who became famous as the tallest person in recorded history
  • Robert Wipper, Russian historian of classical antiquity, medieval and modern period
  • Roberto (born 1997), known online as Fanum, American streamer and content creator

Objects and artifacts

  • Robert the Doll, a supposedly haunted doll exhibited at a museum, center of an urban legend
  • Robert (robot name), real and fictional robots named Robert

Fictional characters

Folklore

  • Puck, also Robert Goodfellow or Robin Goodfellow, a domestic and nature sprite, demon, or fairy in mythology
  • Knecht Ruprecht, or Knight Robert, a legendary Christmas character from German folklore

See also

  • Rob (given name), short for Robert
  • Robby, nickname for Robert
  • Robbie, nickname for Robert
  • Bob (given name), nickname for Robert
  • Bobby (given name), nickname for Robert
  • Roberts (surname)
  • Robertson (surname)
  • Roberson
  • Rupert (name), alternate version of Robert
  • Robin (name), formerly a nickname for Robert
  • Robinson (name)
  • Robinett
  • Robinet
  • Robinette

References

  1. ^ a b "Robrecht". Historische woordenboeken: Nederlands en Fries (in Dutch). Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal.
  2. ^ a b Reaney & Wilson, 1997. Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press.
  3. ^ Withycombe, E., 1973 ed. Oxford Dictionary of English Christian names. Oxford University Press.
  4. ^ Frank Nuessel (1992). The Study of Names: A Guide to the Principles and Topics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 10. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013.
  5. ^ "Name Robert: Wolfram Alpha". January 1, 2021. Archived from the original on February 12, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ "Name Robert (Females): Wolfram Alpha". January 1, 2021. Archived from the original on February 12, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ RoBerTo Checked, Time Magazine, October 19, 1942
  8. ^ "BRIGHT | Meaning & Definition for UK English". Lexico.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  9. ^ "Beato Galeotto Roberto Malatesta". Santiebeati.it. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  10. ^ "Biographie". Robert Naoussi (in French). Retrieved November 3, 2023.