Robert
Feminine · “bright fame”
Robert is given to boys far more often — 4,849,730 boys against 20,119 girls since 1880. See Robert as a boy name
Robert for a daughter is rare but real in the American record — bright fame, in Germanic, given to girls chiefly as a family name carried across from a father or grandfather.
How old is the name Robert?
Robert was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Robert alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 12,000 people named Robert are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Robert most popular?
Robert peaked in 1929, reaching #314 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 14,628 places below that high. See the whole 1929 chart.
Robert appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Hrodebert to Robert
The story of Robert
Robert was one of the names the Normans made English, carried by dukes, kings of Scotland and Robert the Bruce. Its feminine use in American records is a family practice rather than a fashion: a daughter given a father's or grandfather's name outright, most often paired with a feminine middle. It appears steadily in the registers and peaked around 1930.
Meaning
bright fame
From the Germanic hrod, 'fame', and beraht, 'bright' — the same beraht behind Albert, Herbert and Bertha. Both elements are ordinary words and the compound is transparent and undisputed. It reached England as Hrodebert through the Normans.
How the name formed
- Hrodebert
- Robert
Related forms: Roberta · Roberte · Roberta
Pronouncing Robert
ROB-urt
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically whichever sex carries it.
Nicknames for Robert
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1928434 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #314reached in 1929
- Change vs 2019
- −16.7%5 in 2025, from 6
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.
Robert in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Roberta in English — related form
- Roberte in French — related form
- Roberta in Italian — related form
Roberts among us
people named Robert are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Robert
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Isabell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Robert's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Isabell climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Isabell's path sketches the road Robert is walking now.
Robert 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
Robert beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Robert in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent, undisputed and unusually good.
- Bobbie and Robbie are both available as feminine short forms.
- It records a real family-naming practice rather than a trend.
- In English the name reads as unambiguously masculine.
- Roberta is the standard feminine and will often be assumed.
- The feminine use is period-coded to the early twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Robert to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Robert? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Robert
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Roberts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 12,000 people named Robert are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Robert in 2025?
- Robert ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Robert?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Robert — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Robert with classmates?
- Robert will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Robert
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Robert? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Robert and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle