Roberto
Masculine · “Bright fame”
Roberto is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 112,643 boys against 834 girls since 1880. See Roberto as a girl name
Roberto is a Germanic name that Italian and Spanish have kept for well over a thousand years, and the most admired man to carry it in America died in an aircraft loaded with earthquake relief.
How old is the name Roberto?
Roberto first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Roberto alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 98,000 people named Roberto are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Roberto most popular?
Roberto peaked in 1980, reaching #145 nationally. Today it ranks #569, 424 places below that high. See the whole 1980 chart.
Roberto appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Hrodebert to Roberto
The story of Roberto
He had insisted on flying with the supplies because earlier shipments had been diverted by the regime and he believed his presence would stop it. The overloaded aircraft went down offshore minutes after takeoff on the last night of the year, and his body was never recovered. The Hall of Fame waived its five-year waiting period and elected him within months — only the second time that had been done — and the award for sportsmanship and community work now carries his name. He had reached his three thousandth hit in his last at-bat of the season before, which nobody knew at the time would be the last.
Meaning
Bright fame
The two Germanic elements mean fame and bright, in that order. The name traveled into the Romance languages early and was fully naturalized in both Italy and Spain long before it reached English-speaking America.
How the name formed
- Hrodebert
- Roberto
Related forms: Roberto · Roberto · Robert · Rui
Pronouncing Roberto
roh-BAIR-toh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The r is tapped in both Spanish and Italian.
Nicknames for Roberto
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
- 1897
- Most boys named
- 19902,096 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #145reached in 1980
- Change vs 2022
- −15.2%519 in 2025, from 612
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.
Roberto in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Roberto in Italian — same name
- Roberto in Spanish — same name
- Robert in English — same name
- Rui in Portuguese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Robertos among us
people named Roberto are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,291 born in 2025 was named Roberto
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 Lyle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Roberto's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lyle climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lyle's path sketches the road Roberto is walking now.
Roberto 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
Where Roberto is headed
Roberto should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Roberto beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Roberto in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and grand without being strange.
- It is read correctly in English, Spanish and Italian without adjustment.
- It carries a short form in each of those languages.
- English speakers will flatten the middle vowel and the tapped r.
- It will be shortened to Rob or Bert by people who do not know the Spanish forms.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes, though nearly every bearer in the record is a boy.
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What they receive
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Roberto
Masculine · #569 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Robertos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 98,000 people named Roberto are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Roberto in 2025?
- Roberto ranks #569 among US boy names in 2025, with 519 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Roberto?
- About 1 in every 3,291 US boys born in 2025 was named Roberto — 519 in all.
- Will my child share the name Roberto with classmates?
- Roberto will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Roberto
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jakai#569 · Rocky#568 · Enrique#571 · Zain#567 · Johan#572 · Colsen#566 · Clay#573 · Andy#565
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Roberto? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Roberto and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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