How many Robs are there in the world?

No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,000 people named Rob are estimated to be alive in the US today.

How do you spell Rob?

Rob is the most-used spelling in US records — 7 of the 12 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Robb.

How popular is the name Rob in 2025?

Rob ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.

How rare is the name Rob?

About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Rob — 7 in all.

Will my child share the name Rob with classmates?

Rob will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Rob

Masculine · “bright fame”

#9714 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year

rare7 boys in 2025

Rob is Robert cut to one syllable, and the Germanic behind it is bright fame — the compound the Normans brought to England and never stopped using.

How old is the name Rob?

Rob first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Rob alive today was born around 1964, making them about 61 years old. About 7,000 people named Rob are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Rob most popular?

Rob peaked in 1963, reaching #334 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 9,380 places below that high. See the whole 1963 chart.

Compare this name More “R” names

Lists built from the same records:

Where it comes from

From Hrodebert to Rob

The story of Rob

Robert came to England with the Normans and became one of the most-used English names — Robert the Bruce, Robert Burns, and the outlaw whose name is always given as Robin, another diminutive. Rob was the ordinary Scots and English clipping, and American families registered it outright from the 1930s, peaking around 1966.

Meaning

bright fame

Through Robert, from the Germanic hrod, 'fame', and beraht, 'bright'. Both elements are ordinary words and the compound is transparent and undisputed. Rob is the direct clipping; the rhyming alteration to Bob is a separate and later English development.

How the name formed

Hrodebert
Robert
Rob

Related forms: Robb · Rob · Rab

Pronouncing Rob

ROB

One syllable. It is a homophone of an ordinary English verb.

Nicknames for Rob

Moderate

RobbieThe affectionate stretch, and a registered name in its own right

RobertThe parent form, available as the formal version whenever one is wanted

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: 1884
Most boys named: 1964546 — the highest on record
Peak rank: #334reached in 1963
Change vs 2023: −36.4%7 in 2025, from 11

Rob sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 1964, with 546 boys. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Rob in other languages

The same name elsewhere

Robb in English — spelling variant
Rob in Dutch — same name
Rab in Scottish — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: California.

Robs among us

7,000

people named Rob are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Rob

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Rob

#9714
Rob on the 2025 chart: #916
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rob went to 7 boys in 2025, but Robb is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 12, which makes it the 916th most-given boys’ name of the year — 8,798 places above the chart.

Rob7
Robb5

About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 244,011 for Rob itself.

Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method

III

Is it right for you

What happens to a name after it peaks

The Davis test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rob's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Davis climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Davis's path sketches the road Rob is walking now.

40%chance Rob will feel dated by 2040

Rob, aligned on its peakDavis· peak 1901not yet written

Rob today is about where Davis stood in 1963 — 62 years past a #334-sized peak. By 1978, Davis had settled around #787.

Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Rob sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.

A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored

Rob beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Rob in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Robthis name7#9714Vern7#9714Abrahm7#9714Sid7#9714Hartwell7#9714

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths

The meaning is transparent, undisputed and unusually good.
Robert is available as a full formal version with enormous history.
Three letters, one syllable, and never misheard.

What to consider

It is a homophone of an ordinary English verb.
Given outright it stays informal; Robert on the certificate keeps both registers.
It is closely dated to the middle of the twentieth century.

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Rob

Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Robs are there in the world?: No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,000 people named Rob are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Rob?: Rob is the most-used spelling in US records — 7 of the 12 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Robb.
How popular is the name Rob in 2025?: Rob ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Rob?: About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Rob — 7 in all.
Will my child share the name Rob with classmates?: Rob will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Rob

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Vern^#9714 · Abrahm^#9714 · Sid^#9714 · Hartwell^#9714 · Kwan^#9714 · Adrean^#9714 · Chancey^#9714 · Bob^#9714

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rob? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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