MEANING & HISTORY
What does Bob mean?
Bob belongs to the familiar-name family of Robert. Robert first shortens to Rob; rhyming changes of the opening consonant produced a group of forms including Bob and older names such as Hob and Dob.
Bob later became an independent full name as well as a nickname. Robert’s older Germanic elements concern fame and brightness, but the short form Bob is not literally a separate word for bright fame. Its actual formation is the informative part: a conventional rhyming familiar name, rather than a newly assembled compound or an acronym.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
Probably from a medieval hypocorism of Rob.
A diminutive of the male given name Robert.
SpanishEtymology & source
a male given name from English
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Bob
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Bob Ong
pseudonym of an unknown Filipino author
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Bob dela Cruz
Filipino actor and politician (born 1977)
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
3
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
3
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Bob dela Cruz, Bob Ong
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Bob in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Bob
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Bo♂♀Scandinavian Búi; also a spelling of Beau
- Boy♂Familiar name associated with Bonito or Bonifacio
- Bobby♂Affectionate form of Bob, from Robert
- Bong♂Familiar form of Bonito or Bonifacio
- Bobbie·Bright fame; familiar Robert or Roberta form
- Bodie·Surname-derived name; also a variant of Bodhi
- Bonbon♂Repeated familiar form from Bon and several recorded names
- Bonito♂Pretty, handsome, or pleasing
What rhymes with Bob?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Explore Bob further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q18105736 — Bob (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Bob dela Cruz (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q18105736 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Bob Ong (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q18105736 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Bob (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Bob (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Bob (opens in a new tab)
Onomastic account consulted for this exact name or its explicitly linked name family.