Hebert
A surname usually from the old given name Hubert, meaning a descendant of Hubert or Hubrecht.
The #836 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 7,480 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally traced to the medieval personal name Hubert, ultimately from Germanic elements meaning roughly “mind” or “thought” plus “bright” or “famous.” In English and French records, Hebert appears as a shortened or variant spelling of that name, with related forms such as Hebard, Hebbert, and Hibbert. The historical sources also show it being treated as a baptismal surname, meaning “son of Hubert.”
History
The name is well attested in English medieval and post-medieval records in several spelling variants, and it also appears in French and Norman contexts. Later surname dictionaries note that many forms of Hubert became extremely diverse, with Hebert among the recorded outcomes. In North America, Hebert is especially familiar in Louisiana and other areas with French-Canadian or Acadian settlement, though the excerpted sources here focus mainly on older British and continental forms.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books remark that the many descendant forms of Hubert are so numerous that the “Hubert” family of surnames is surprisingly large.
From the historical record
“Hebord, Hebbard, Eebbert, Hebert.— Bapt. 'the son of Hu- bert'; V. Hibbard and Hubert. The forms Hubert has taken are astonishingly large. Hubbard is, however, the favourite (v.Hubert).”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances