Robb
Masculine · “bright fame”
Robb looks like a nickname and is actually a surname. Scotland has used it as a family name for centuries, formed from Robert the way Watt came from Walter and Dick from Richard — a familiar form that hardened into a lineage. The doubled b is what marks it: a nickname would stop at one, and a surname keeps both.
How old is the name Robb?
Robb first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Robb alive today was born around 1969, making them about 56 years old. About 2,700 people named Robb are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Robb most popular?
Robb peaked in 1969, reaching #502 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,506 places below that high. See the whole 1969 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hrodebert to Robb
The story of Robb
Robert arrived in England with the Normans and became one of the standard men's names of Britain, which produced the usual crop of short forms and, in Scotland, the surname Robb. Both routes reach America. As a given name Robb is thin on the ground and has always been so, which is what happens to a spelling that most people read as an error — and it has recently acquired a very large fictional bearer, since a widely watched television series gave the name to the eldest son of a northern house, which is now the first association for a whole generation of readers.
Meaning
bright fame
From Robert, and behind that the Germanic Hrodebert: hrod, fame or glory, and berht, bright or shining. The second element is the same one behind Albert, Herbert and Bertha, and it is one of the most productive words in the whole Germanic naming stock.
How the name formed
- Hrodebert
- Robert
- Robb
Related forms: Rab · Robert · Ruprecht · Roberto
Pronouncing Robb
ROB
One syllable, said exactly like the common English word and exactly like the single-b spelling. The extra letter makes no sound at all; it is doing purely visual work.
Nicknames for Robb
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 1969237 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #502reached in 1969
- Change vs 2020
- 0.0%5 in 2025, 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.
Robb in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rab in Scots — related form
- Robert in French — related form
- Ruprecht in German — related form
- Roberto in Italian — related form
Robbs among us
people named Robb are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Robb
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Robb
- #12008
- Robb on the 2025 chart
- #916
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Robb went to 5 boys in 2025, but Rob 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 — 11,092 places above the chart.
- Rob7
- Robb5
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 341,615 for Robb 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
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ignacio test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Robb's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ignacio climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ignacio's path sketches the road Robb is walking now.
Robb 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
Robb beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Robb in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters — as compact as a name can be while still looking deliberate.
- The doubled b marks it as a chosen spelling rather than a casual clipping, which is the whole point.
- Robert sits behind it as a formal option without any legal step.
- Almost everyone will write Rob with one b, and the correction is permanent.
- It is identical in sound to an ordinary English verb, which the jokes will find.
- For younger readers the name belongs first to a character in a television series whose fate is not a happy one.
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Robb
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Robbs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Robb are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Robb?
- Robb is one of 2 recorded spellings. Rob is the more common one — 7 births in 2025 against 5 for Robb.
- How popular is the name Robb in 2025?
- Robb ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Robb?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Robb — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Robb with classmates?
- Robb will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Robb
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Robb? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Robb and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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