Robin

Robin grew out of Robert, a Germanic name built from hrod, meaning fame, and beraht, meaning bright. Medieval speakers of English and French clipped Robert into something shorter and fonder, and Robin settled into use on its own. Its meaning stayed close to the source: bright fame, sława and blask.

By the fourteenth century the name had reached the ballads. Robin Hood, the outlaw of the greenwood, carried it into stories that were written down by the fifteenth century and copied long after. The small red-breasted bird picked up the same word, a pet form of Robert handed to a familiar garden visitor.

In a Polish class register Robin sits as a short entry between longer names. A teacher reading it aloud gives a boy the French and English form unchanged, no diminutive needed. It stays short. The spelling holds one meaning under it: bright fame.