Robert
Around 258,000 Polish men carry it, one of those names everyone knows a few of, but it's fading: only 226 boys got it last year. Germanic at root, meaning "bright fame".
Robert Pronunciation
Robert is pronounced RO-bert (/ˈrɔbɛrt/).
What Robert means
Where Robert comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Robert grew out of the old Germanic name Hrodebert, which fused hrod, meaning fame, with berht, meaning bright. So the name reads as bright fame. Norman speakers carried it across the Channel, and it settled quickly into English and Polish alike.
The two roots gave the name to men who wanted their reputation seen. Robert the Bruce won back the Scottish crown in the fourteenth century. Robert Schumann set German poems to music. Each name pointed toward a fame meant to shine.
In Poland the name keeps its own calendar. Robert Bellarmin, the Italian cardinal who lived from 1542 to 1621, gave it the most common imieniny on 17 September, though many Roberts also celebrate on 17 April. The feminine variant, Roberta, follows the same roots. On a school register a Robert sits among the R names, and the Polish gloss beside it still reads jaśniejący sławą, bright fame.
How many people are named Robert
1 in 83 men in Poland is named Robert. 258,161 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #43 among male names.
Robert's popularity over time
226 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #173 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #43 name among living men, even as it slips to #173 among newborns.
Where Robert is most popular
Robert is most popular in Pomeranian, 50% above the national average (233 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+35%) and Opole (+27%). It is least common in Świętokrzyskie and Subcarpathian, 59% and 44% below average respectively.
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Pomeranian233 boys born+50%
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Silesian325 boys born+35%
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Opole62 boys born+27%
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Lower Silesian182 boys born+10%
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Warmian-Masurian83 boys born+9%
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Masovian400 boys born+7%
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Lubusz53 boys born+1%
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Lesser Poland238 boys born−1%
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West Pomeranian87 boys born−3%
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Podlaskie66 boys born−5%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian106 boys born−8%
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Greater Poland197 boys born−13%
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Lublin71 boys born−35%
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Łódź86 boys born−36%
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Subcarpathian72 boys born−44%
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Świętokrzyskie24 boys born−59%
Robert as a middle name
Robert is a first name for 258,161 men in Poland and a middle name for another 129,369, a 67/33 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 24th, between Zbigniew (133,181) and Jacek (125,250).
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22
137,852Jakub
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23
133,181Zbigniew
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24129,369Robert
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25
125,250Jacek
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26
123,670Ryszard
When Robert celebrates name day
Robert appears 4 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 21 February.