UK name, mostly girls
Bobbie
A diminutive form of the masculine name Robert, derived from Old German meaning "bright fame".
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Also recorded as a boys' name in the UK, with 663 boys.
Bobbie is mostly registered for girls in the UK records. People looking for Bobbie popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #676, with 56 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2019, with 73 births.
This profile covers 1,551 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, NRS Scotland and NISRA Northern Ireland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
The latest count is about 77% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 1,699 living people in the UK are called Bobbie. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Bobbie ranked #676 for girls in England and Wales in 2024, with 56 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 2019, when 73 girls were registered as Bobbie.
- • Bobbie ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #407 in 2024.
- • Bobbie is also recorded for boys, but the girls side is the larger UK variant in these records.
- • About 1,699 living people in the UK are estimated to have Bobbie as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
- • Across the England and Wales records shown here, 70.1% of Bobbie registrations are for girls.
Latest rank (E&W)
#676
2024
Births in 2024
56
Latest year
Peak year
2019
73 births
Estimated living
1,699
2026
Gender
Boy and girl registrations for Bobbie
In England and Wales birth records, Bobbie has been registered for both boys and girls. Across the years shown here, 29.9% of registrations are for boys and 70.1% are for girls.
These figures use the sex categories in the published baby-name files. They are useful for spotting how the name is used at registration, but they are not a live measure of gender identity or everyone living with the name today.
Bobbie registered for boys
- Ranked #924 in 2024
- 34 boys registered in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (47 births)
Bobbie registered for girls
- Ranked #676 in 2024
- 56 girls registered in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (73 births)
Meaning
What does Bobbie mean?
The given name Bobbie is a diminutive form of the name Robert, which has its origins in the Germanic language family. Robert is derived from the Germanic words "hrod" meaning "fame" and "berht" meaning "bright." The name is believed to have emerged during the medieval period in Europe.
Bobbie is a modern variant of the nickname Bob, which was originally a shortened form of the name Robert. The earliest recorded use of the name Bobbie dates back to the late 18th century, particularly in English-speaking regions such as Britain and the United States.
One of the earliest historical figures known to have borne the name Bobbie was Robert "Bobbie" Shafto, an English politician and landowner who lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He was the subject of a popular English folk song titled "Bobbie Shafto's Gone to Sea."
Another notable figure with the name Bobbie was Bobbie Rosenfeld (1904-1969), a Canadian athlete and one of the most successful female track and field competitors of her time. She won Olympic gold medals in the 4x100m relay and the discus throw at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.
In the field of literature, Bobbie Ann Mason (born 1940) is an American novelist and short story writer known for her works that explore the lives of ordinary people in the American South and Midwest. Her novels include "In Country" and "Shiloh and Other Stories."
Sir Bobbie Trayler-Bellew (1927-2009) was a British military officer and cricketer who served in the Royal Navy and played first-class cricket for the Combined Services and Oxford University teams in the 1940s and 1950s.
Bobbie Gentry (born 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and novelist, best known for her hit songs "Ode to Billie Joe" and "Fancy" in the late 1960s. She is also the author of several novels, including "Ode to Billie Joe" and "Chickasaw County Child."
While the name Bobbie has been predominantly used as a masculine name throughout history, it has also been adopted as a feminine name in more recent times, particularly in English-speaking countries.
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Bobbie over time
The chart below compares boys and girls registered as Bobbie in England and Wales, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Bobbie, the clearest high point is 2019. The latest England and Wales figure is 56 births in 2024, compared with 73 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bobbie by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Bobbie was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | #604 | 319 | 5 |
| 2010s | #819 | 484 | 10 |
| 2000s | #628 | 515 | 10 |
| 1990s | #494 | 233 | 4 |
Geography
Where Bobbie is most common
The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Bobbie. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.
Bobbie ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #407 in 2024.
Across the UK
Bobbie in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland (NRS)
#541 in 2024
24 years of NRS records, 146 total registered
Northern Ireland (NISRA)
#407 in 2024
3 years of NISRA records, 12 total registered
Related
Names similar to Bobbie
- Bethany 43,226
- Brooke 18,370
- Bella 14,112
- Bonnie 12,149
- Beatrice 11,306
- Bethan 7,968
- Beth 6,440
- Betsy 5,065
- Beatrix 4,317
- Billie 4,220
- Beau 3,231
- Bryony 3,167
FAQ
Bobbie: questions and answers
How popular is the name Bobbie in the UK right now?
In 2024, Bobbie was ranked #676 for girls in England and Wales, with 56 births registered.
When was Bobbie most popular?
The peak year on record was 2019, with 73 babies registered as Bobbie in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Bobbie?
A diminutive form of the masculine name Robert, derived from Old German meaning "bright fame".
How many people are called Bobbie in the UK?
A total of 1,551 babies have been registered as Bobbie across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 146 more in Scotland and 12 in Northern Ireland.
Where is Bobbie most common?
In the latest published local rankings, Bobbie ranks best in Northern Ireland, where it placed #407 in 2024. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.