Robert is an ancient Germanic French surname. It is derived from the Proto-Germanic elements *Hrōþi- ("fame, glory, honour") and *berhta- ("bright, shining"). Despite being used as a surname, it is most commonly used as a given name (see Robert).
Geographical distribution As of 2014, 27.0% of all known bearers of the surname Robert were residents of France (frequency 1:472), 22.8% of Tanzania (1:434), 10.6% of Nigeria (1:3,177), 6.0% of the United States (1:11,438), 3.7% of Canada (1:1,926), 2.9% of Papua New Guinea (1:534), 2.5% of Malawi (1:1,335), 2.2% of Kenya (1:3,929), 2.1% of Rwanda (1:1,018), 1.9% of Togo (1:721), 1.3% Haiti (1:1,631), 1.2% of Belgium (1:1,822), 1.2% of Liberia (1:722), 1.1% of Sudan (1:6,756) and 1.1% of South Africa (1:9,780).
In France, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:472) in the following regions:Robert surname distribution Réunion (1:56) Collectivity of Saint Martin (1:119) Saint Pierre and Miquelon (1:337) Pays de la Loire (1:369) Brittany (1:378) Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (1:414) Centre-Val de Loire (1:420) Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (1:432) Nouvelle-Aquitaine (1:471)
Notable people with the surname Alain Robert (born 1962), French rock and urban climber Anny Robert, Nigerian photographer Dominique Robert (born 1957), Canadian writer Dominique Robert (politician) (1952–2025), French politician
Hubert Robert (1733–1808), French painter Jeanne Robert (resistance member) (1914–2017), French Resistance member Laurent Robert (born 1975), French footballer Louise Robert (born 1941), Canadian painter Léo-Paul Robert (1851–1923), Swiss painter Louis-Léopold Robert (1794–1835), Swiss painter Luis Robert (born 1997), Cuban baseball outfielder Maurice Robert (aviator) (1893–1918), French World War I flying ace Mireille Robert (born 1963), French politician Rene Robert (1948–2021), National Hockey League forward for the Buffalo Sabres Robert brothers, Anne-Jean and Nicolas-Louis, French balloonists circa 1783–4, the engineers who built the world's first hydrogen balloon and went on to build the world's first manned hydrogen balloon Stéphane Robert (linguist) (fl. 1989–present), French linguist Théophile Robert (1879–1954), Swiss painter
See also Roberts (surname)
References