How common is the name Robert?

2,759,339 people in the United States have the first name Robert, about 1 in 109. It ranks #5 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ROBERT

#5

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
2,759,339
About
1 in 109
This common or more
5%
Who bears it

Of the 2,759,339 people named Robert, 82.7% reported their origin as White, 7.2% as Black and 6.3% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Robert peaked in 1947, when 91,892 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1947
Births that year
91,892
In 2025*
3,777 ▼96%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 4,869,849 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Robert by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1930s, when it ranked #1. The largest share of babies named Robert, 31.5%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).

1880s#1324,193
1890s#1726,319
1900s#1636,046
1910s#6240,237
1920s#2579,614
1930s#1593,546
1940s#2760,240
1950s#3832,594
1960s#5653,466
1970s#8399,853
1980s#12323,861
1990s#27205,996
2000s#55106,830
2010s#9362,712
2020s#14224,342
Before 19011.1%
Greatest Generation 1901–2715%
Silent Generation 1928–4523.2%
Baby boom 1946–6431.5%
Generation X 1965–8015%
Millennials 1981–969.2%
Generation Z 1997–123.6%
2013 and later1.3%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Robert is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Robert has been most common in Rhode Island (1.6×), Massachusetts (1.5×), and Vermont (1.4×), and least common in Arizona (0.6×).

4,778,729 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Robert

#3 James · 2,996,421#4 David · 2,813,017#6 William · 2,240,114#7 Mary · 1,768,343

Spelled almost the same

6 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Robert, most common first.

#324 Roberto · 172,377#538 Roberta · 104,467#13,255 Roberts · 916#16,356 Robbert · 691#22,868 Roberth · 432#51,822 Roberte · 111

Also a last name

As a last name, Robert ranks #2,899 of 156,621, with 12,105 people. See Robert as a last name

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