Rober
Derived from the Germanic name Robert, meaning "bright fame" or "shining glory".
Name Census estimates that about 330 living Americans carry the first name Rober. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rober today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rober births was 1984 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rober. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
330
~ 1 in 1,038,650 Americans
Peak year
1984
16 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1995 SSA rank
#7,631
Tracked since 1917
Census
Rober in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,949 people with the first name Rober, which placed it at #7,709 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,709
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,949 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rober
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rober is White at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.7%) and Black (7.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Rober described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Rober at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.2% · 1,387
- Hispanic or Latino17.7% · 345
- Black or African American7.2% · 141
- Two or more races2.0% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 10
Popularity
Rober: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rober from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 106 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rober by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Rober during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Robers live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rober
The name Rober has its origins in the Old German language, dating back to the early medieval period. It is a variant of the name Robert, which is derived from the Germanic words "hruod" meaning "fame" and "berht" meaning "bright." The name essentially translates to "bright fame."
In the 6th century, the name Robert was first recorded in the Frankish Empire, which covered modern-day France, Germany, and parts of Italy. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Robert the Strong, a Frankish nobleman who lived in the late 9th century and served as the Margrave of Anjou and the progenitor of the Capetian dynasty of French kings.
The name Rober, as a variant spelling, gained popularity in various regions of Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. In the 13th century, Rober de Gloucester, an English chronicler and poet, wrote the "Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester," a historical work documenting the reigns of English kings from the Norman Conquest to the 13th century.
During the Renaissance, Rober featured prominently in Italian art and literature. Rober Strozzi (1497-1538) was an Italian Renaissance painter known for his portraits and religious works. Rober Bellarmine (1542-1621), an Italian Jesuit scholar and cardinal, was a significant figure in the Counter-Reformation and is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church.
In the 17th century, Rober Boyle (1627-1691) was an Irish natural philosopher, chemist, and inventor, best known for his pioneering work on the properties of gases and his contributions to the scientific revolution. Rober Herrick (1591-1674) was an English lyric poet and cleric, renowned for his vivid and sensual poetry celebrating love, beauty, and the pleasures of life.
Moving into the 19th century, Rober Browning (1812-1889) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Victorian literature. His works, including "The Ring and the Book" and "Dramatic Lyrics," explored themes of love, faith, and human psychology with remarkable depth and complexity.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Rober throughout history, reflecting its enduring popularity and cultural significance across various regions and time periods.
People
Rober + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rober as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Rober: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rober?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 330 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rober going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,038,650 US residents.
Is Rober a common name?
We classify Rober as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 414 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rober most popular?
The single biggest year for Rober was 1984, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rober is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rober in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,949 people with the name Rober, or 0.65 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,709 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Rober in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Rober?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rober appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,953 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Rober?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rober is White at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.7%) and Black (7.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Rober most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rober in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.2% (1,387 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Rober in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rober a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rober in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Rober still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rober in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Rober can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Rober?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.