Roby
Masculine · “Germanic hrod and berht”
Roby is given to both — 2,481 boys and 118 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
William the Conqueror's eldest son never got England. Robert Curthose was passed over twice, went on the First Crusade, lost a battle to his younger brother in 1106 and spent the last twenty-eight years of his life in prison. The name belongs to the losing side of the Conquest as much as the winning one.
How old is the name Roby?
Roby first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Roby alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 1,400 people named Roby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Roby most popular?
Roby peaked in 1901, reaching #779 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 8,935 places below that high. See the whole 1901 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hrodberht to Roby
The story of Roby
Robert Curthose, so called for his short legs, was the Conqueror's eldest son and inherited Normandy in 1087 while England went to his brother William Rufus and, after 1100, to the youngest brother Henry. He mortgaged the duchy to go on the First Crusade, fought at Antioch and Jerusalem, and was reportedly offered the crown of Jerusalem and declined it. On his return he found England taken. Henry invaded Normandy, defeated him at Tinchebray in 1106, and held him prisoner at Devizes and then Cardiff until his death in 1134, twenty-eight years later. The effigy on his tomb in Gloucester Cathedral is one of the earliest wooden effigies in England. The name Robert became one of the commonest in England precisely through the family that produced him.
Meaning
Germanic hrod and berht, bright fame
Roby is a familiar form of Robert, from Germanic Hrodberht, joining hrod, fame or glory, to berht, bright. The Normans brought it to England, where it displaced the native Old English cognate Hreodbeorht. The same first element appears in Roger, Roland and Rudolf, and the second in Albert and Herbert. The American peak is 1901.
How the name formed
- Hrodberht
- Robert
- Roby
Related forms: Robby · Roberto · Robert
Pronouncing Roby
ROB-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Roby and Robby are homophones; the single b is the older spelling in American records.
Nicknames for Roby
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
- 1884
- Most boys named
- 196450 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #779reached in 1901
- Change vs 2021
- +40.0%7 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.
Roby in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Robby in English — spelling variant
- Roberto in Italian — related form
- Robert in French — same name
Robys among us
people named Roby are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Roby
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Roby
- #9714
- Roby on the 2025 chart
- #899
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Roby went to 7 boys in 2025, but Robby is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 29, which makes it the 899th most-given boys’ name of the year — 8,815 places above the chart.
- Robby22
- Roby7
About 1 boy in 58,899 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 244,011 for Roby 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
Fashion outlook
Roby 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
Roby beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Roby in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Robert is available as the formal version.
- Two syllables and four letters, impossible to mispronounce.
- The Germanic elements behind it are fully documented.
- Robby and Bobby are both commoner spellings.
- It reads as a familiar form rather than a full name.
- The 1901 peak places it over a century ago.
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Roby
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Robys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Roby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Roby?
- Roby is one of 2 recorded spellings. Robby is the more common one — 22 births in 2025 against 7 for Roby.
- How popular is the name Roby in 2025?
- Roby ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Roby?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Roby — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Roby with classmates?
- Roby will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Roby
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 Roby? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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