Robb
A surname that usually began as a short form of Robert, especially in northern English and Scottish usage.
The #2,686 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 23,037 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Robb is a shortened form of Robert. The older surname tradition treats it as a familiar northern pronunciation or nickname based on Rob, which itself comes from the Germanic personal name Robert. In that sense, the name originally meant essentially "son or descendant of Rob/Robert," rather than referring to a place or occupation.
History
Historical surname dictionaries place Robb alongside other Robert-based forms such as Rob, Robe, Robson, and Robbins. It is especially associated with northern English and Scots usage, where short forms like Rob were common in everyday speech and later became fixed as surnames. The name also appears in medieval records in forms such as Robbe.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname books explicitly note Robb as a northern pronunciation of Robert.
From the historical record
“ROBB. See Robert. A Northern pro- nunciation. ROBBERDS. A coarse spelling of Roberts. ROBBIE. See Robert. ROBE. A contraction of Robert. ROBERT. A Teutonic j^ersonal name of great antiquity, which was introduced”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom