Bobbe
Feminine · “a pet form of Roberta or Barbara”
Bobbe is Bobbie with a French-looking final e, a pet name for Roberta or Barbara that became a name of its own. In Yiddish, the same word is what children call their grandmother.
How old is the name Bobbe?
Bobbe first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Bobbe alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 300 people named Bobbe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bobbe most popular?
Bobbe peaked in 1932, reaching #1488 nationally. See the whole 1932 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Roberta / Barbara to Bobbe
The story of Bobbe
Pet forms like Bobbie were written on American birth records as full names, and Bobbe was one spelling. Its best-known relative is Bobbie Gentry, the Mississippi singer who wrote Ode to Billie Joe, the story of a family talking over dinner about a boy who jumped from the Tallahatchie Bridge; she never revealed what he and the narrator threw off it, and refused to for the rest of her life. In Yiddish-speaking homes, meanwhile, bobe was simply grandmother, which is the first thing some people will hear.
Meaningscholars disagree
a pet form of Roberta or Barbara
Bobbie was a short form of Roberta, bright fame, or of Barbara, foreign woman, and Bobbe is a spelling of it. The Yiddish bobe, grandmother, is a separate word.
How the name formed
- Roberta / Barbara
- Bobbie
- Bobbe
Pronouncing Bobbe
BAH-bee
Two syllables, stressed on the first, like Bobbie.
Nicknames for Bobbe
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 193226 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1488reached in 1932
- Change vs 1981
- 0.0%5 in 1994, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Bobbes among us
people named Bobbe are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Bobbe sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is warm, friendly and easy to say.
- It is almost never given now, so it is distinctive.
- People who know Yiddish will hear the word for grandmother.
- It reads as a nickname, and many will assume a longer legal name.
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Bobbe
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Bobbes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Bobbe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bobbe in 2025?
- Bobbe is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Bobbe with classmates?
- Bobbe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Barbara#968 · Betty#1113 · Brenda#1525 · Beverly#1016 · Brittany#928 · Bonnie#396 · Brianna#222 · Bertha#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bobbe? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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