Robb
An English masculine name derived from Robert, meaning "bright fame".
Name Census estimates that about 2,776 living Americans carry the first name Robb. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Robb today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Robb births was 1970 (246 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Robb. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Robb with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 123,471 Americans
Peak year
1970
246 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2020 SSA rank
#13,646
Tracked since 1917
Census
Robb in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,086 people with the first name Robb, which placed it at #5,525 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
#5,525
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,086 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Robb
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Robb is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.8%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Robb 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 Robb at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.2% · 2,845
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 86
- Two or more races1.9% · 59
- Black or African American1.5% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 16
Popularity
Robb: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Robb from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,117 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Robb 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 Robb during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Robbs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Michigan recorded the most babies named Robb, while New Jersey, Missouri, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 67 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Robb
The name Robb is an English variant of the name Robert, which has its origins in the Germanic elements "hrod" meaning "fame" and "berht" meaning "bright". The name Robert first emerged in France during the early medieval period and was popularized by the Normans.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Robb dates back to the 13th century in England. It was used as a diminutive or nickname form of Robert, which was a common name among the Norman nobility at the time. The spelling "Robb" was likely influenced by the Scottish pronunciation of the name Robert.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Robb was Robb de Beauchamp, a Norman knight who fought in the Third Crusade under Richard the Lionheart in the late 12th century. In the 14th century, Robb de Stafford was a prominent English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War.
In the 16th century, Robb Wyer was an English printer and publisher based in London, known for publishing works by notable authors such as John Foxe and Thomas Becon. During the same period, Robb Aske led the Pilgrimage of Grace, a popular uprising against the religious reforms of Henry VIII in northern England.
In the 17th century, Robb Carr was a Scottish mercenary who fought in the Thirty Years' War and later became a successful merchant and landowner in Sweden. Robb Thorley was an English Puritan clergyman and author who wrote several religious works during the same period.
In more recent history, Robb White was an American author and naturalist best known for his book "Delineator of Life" published in 1970, which explored the natural history of the Appalachian region. Robb Edmiston was a Canadian ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1970s and 1980s.
People
Robb + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Robb 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
Robb: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Robb?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,776 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Robb 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 123,471 US residents.
Is Robb a common name?
We classify Robb as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,190 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Robb most popular?
The single biggest year for Robb was 1970, when 246 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Robb 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 Robb in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,086 people with the name Robb, or 1.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,525 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 Robb 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 Robb?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Robb appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,084 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Robb?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Robb is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.8%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Robb most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Robb in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.2% (2,845 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 Robb in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Robb a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Robb 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 Robb still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Robb 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 Robb 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 people have the name Robb?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Robb, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.