Robb

This article is about the surname. For the given name or nickname, see Robb (given name). For other uses, see Robb (disambiguation).

Robb is a surname of Scottish origin, formed from a diminution (reduction) of the name Robert.[1] Robert was a popular name, especially after its use by three Scots Kings in the fourteenth century. Rob is first recorded as a surname in the mid-15th century, with a handful of individuals recorded in the decades either side of 1500. As the 16th century progressed there were early groupings in Aberdeenshire, Lanarkshire and later in Perthshire/Stirlingshire. It is likely that the name originated with the offspring of a Robert or Rob, when surnames began to flourish, but unlike some surnames there is no one source for the name.

The surname was originally spelled Rob, sometimes Robe, but by 1800 the vast majority of families had added an extra 'b' in common with some other three letter surnames. Today Rob is also a surname in Slovenia, Croatia and the Czech Republic although the derivation is different. Rob also appears as a popular surname in Bangladesh and Kenya. Robe or Robbe is a popular surname in Germany, Holland, Belgium and France and also mainly derives from a diminution of Robert.

Although the surname originates in Scotland, Protestant branches of the family settled in Ireland during the sixteenth century Plantations, with the earliest record of the name appearing in Protestant Muster Rolls in the early 1630s. The Robb of Timpany family is thought to have originated with one James Robb who in the late seventeenth century was said to have been a chief mason of the King's Works in Ireland and an assistant of Inigo Jones. A descendant Captain James Robb built Timpany House in 1780. An armorial Robb family used the surname Robe, descending from Reverend James Robe of Kilsyth (1688–1753), son of Reverend Michael Rob of Cumbernauld (1645–1721), although their coat of arms recorded with the Lord Lyon descends from the Hamilton family through marriage. The Robb Arms are recorded as a 'Paly of eight arg and az, a canton gu' in the early C19th. The Robb crest shows a bare arm holding a chapeau surrounded with a laurel wreath. The vast majority of Robb Crests and 'Coats of Arms' advertised on the internet are false.

It appears that many Robbs emigrated to the New World from Ireland, rather than Scotland. The surname sometimes became Raab, presumably through the pronunciation, although many Robbs in the New World are originally Raubs of German origin. Amongst many Scottish settlers, there were three Jacobite soldiers (from Angus and Midlothian) transported to America following the Jacobite rising of 1715, and the first Free Church of Scotland Minister to settle in Canada was the Rev. Ralph Robb (1800–1850) a native of Logie parish near Stirling.

The name is often recorded as a sept of the Clan MacFarlane who were based historically on the eastern side of Loch Lomond, but this only stems from an early inclusion of the surname MacRobb, (which is a Highland surname), as a MacFarlane sept. It is unlikely there was ever a link between the, largely, lowland surname and the highland clan.

It is the 192nd (equal) most popular surname in Scotland, judging by births, marriages and deaths in 2018.[2]

People with the surname Robb include:

  1. ^ The Surnames of Scotland by George F Black (1946)
  2. ^ National Records of Scotland website