Robie
Masculine · “Bright fame”
Robie is given to both — 1,176 boys and 642 girls since 1880. See Robie as a girl nameSee other names given to both
There is a house in Chicago called the Robie House that changed what a house could look like. Long, low, with a roof that reaches out past the walls and rooms that run into each other instead of being boxes, it was built for a bicycle manufacturer and is now on every architecture syllabus in the world.
How old is the name Robie?
Robie first appears in US birth records in 1892 — 133 years ago. The typical Robie alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 700 people named Robie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Robie most popular?
Robie peaked in 1892, reaching #1066 nationally. See the whole 1892 chart.
Where it comes from
From Robert to Robie
The story of Robie
The house was finished just before the first war and was already the summary of everything its architect had spent twenty years working out: the hearth at the center, the horizontal emphasis, the art glass, the built-in furniture, the deliberate refusal of the boxy Victorian plan. The man who commissioned it lived in it for barely a year before his marriage and his business both failed. It was nearly demolished twice, once for a seminary car park, and was saved both times by public argument. The surname on it is a pet form of one of the commonest men's names in Europe, and the building has made those five letters mean something specific to a particular kind of person.
Meaning
Bright fame
A pet form of Robert, which joins a Germanic word for fame to one meaning bright. The compound stacks an intensifier on an intensifier, which early medieval naming did without embarrassment. The pet ending adds familiarity and no meaning.
How the name formed
- Robert
- Rob
- Robie
Pronouncing Robie
ROH-bee
Two syllables with the stress at the front and a long first vowel, since a single consonant between vowels leaves it long. Robbie, with two b's, has a short vowel and is a different name.
Nicknames for Robie
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
- 1892
- Most boys named
- 196340 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1066reached in 1892
- Change vs 2007
- −37.5%5 in 2011, from 8
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.
Robies among us
people named Robie 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
Robie 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
- Short, warm and easy for a small child to say and to write.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- A very well-established formal name sits behind it.
- The record carries it for girls as well as boys, so it signals nothing on a form.
- Robbie with two b's is far commoner and has a different vowel.
- It is a pet form on a certificate and leaves nothing more formal underneath.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Robie
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Robies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Robie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Robie in 2025?
- Robie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Robie with classmates?
- Robie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Robert#92 · Richard#234 · Ronald#637 · Ryan#99 · Raymond#394 · Roger#832 · Ralph#1046 · Roy#525
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Robie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Robie and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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