Robert (surname)

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:
 * 1. Réunion (1:56)
 * 2. Collectivity of Saint Martin (1:119)
 * 3. Saint Pierre and Miquelon (1:337)
 * 4. Pays de la Loire (1:369)
 * 5. Brittany (1:378)
 * 6. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (1:414)
 * 7. Centre-Val de Loire (1:420)
 * 8. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (1:432)
 * 9. Nouvelle-Aquitaine (1:471)

Notable people with the surname

 * Alain Robert, French rock and urban climber
 * Hubert Robert, French painter
 * Jeanne Robert (1914–2017), French Resistance member
 * Laurent Robert, French footballer
 * Louise Robert (born 1941), Canadian painter
 * Léo-Paul Robert, Swiss painter
 * Louis-Léopold Robert, Swiss painter
 * Luis Robert, Cuban baseball outfielder for the Chicago White Sox
 * Mireille Robert (born 1963), French politician
 * Rene Robert, 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