See also
Look up Bert in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Bert is a hypocoristic form of a number of various Germanic male given names, such as Robert, Albert, Elbert, Herbert, Hilbert, Hubert, Gilbert, Wilbert, Filbert, Norbert, Osbert, Roberto, Roberta, Bertram, Berthold, Bertrand, Umberto, Humbert, Humberto, Alberto, Alberta, Albertine, Albertina, Cuthbert, Delbert, Dagobert, Rimbert, Egbert, Siegbert, Gualbert, Gerbert, Lambert, Engelbert, Bertie, and Colbert.
There is a large number of Germanic names ending in -bert, second in number only to those ending in -wolf (-olf, -ulf). Most of these names are early medieval and only a comparatively small fraction remains in modern use.
The element -berht has the meaning of "bright", Old English beorht/berht, Old High German beraht/bereht, ultimately from a Common Germanic *berhtaz, from a PIE root *bhereg- "white, bright". The female hypocoristic of names containing the same element is Berta.
Modern English bright itself has the same etymology, but it has suffered metathesis at an early date, already in the Old English period, attested as early as AD 700 in the Lindisfarne Gospels. The unmetathesized form disappears after AD 1000 and Middle English from about 1200 has briht universally.
There is no evidence of the berht element in Germanic personal names prior to the 6th century. It is mostly unknown in names of Goths, Vandals, Frisians or Norse, and only rarely occurs in names of Saxons. By contrast, it is very common among Anglo-Saxons, Lombards, Franks and Bavarians. The popularity of the element in certain areas may be related to religion, similar to the wolf element being due to the worship of Wodanaz, the names with berht can be considered theophoric, in connection with the goddess Perchta. The full form of Old High German beraht is reduced in two ways, by omission of either the second (berht, perht, pert) or the first vowel (braht, praht, brat, prat, brecht). Early attestations of such names include Ethberictus, Garberictus, and Transberictus mentioned in Hontheim's Historia Trevirensis s. a. 699. Pardessus' Diplomata s. a. 745 has Berdbert as a rare example of a reduplicated Germanic name. Förstemann counts 369 names with final -bert(a), of which 61 are feminine. [1]
Given names that remain in modern use include:
The following names are commonly abbreviated as "Bert":
Hubert is a Germanic masculine given name, from hug "mind" and beraht "bright". It also occurs as a surname.
Wulf was one of the most prolific elements in early Germanic names. It could figure as the first element in dithematic names, as in Wulfstan, but especially as second element, in the form -ulf, -olf as in Cynewulf, Rudolph, Ludolf, Adolf etc., it was extremely common. Förstemann explains this as originally motivated by the wolf as an animal sacred to Wodanaz, but notes that the large number of names indicates that the element had become a meaningless suffix of male names at an early time.
Dagobert or Taginbert is a Germanic male given name, possibly from Old Frankish Dag "day" and beraht "bright". Alternatively, it has been identified as Gaulish dago "good" berxto "bright".
Herman is a masculine given name, from an ancient Germanic name consisting of the elements harja- "army" and mann- "man". Hermine is the feminine form of Herman. It is first recorded in the 8th century, in the forms Hariman, Heriman, Hairman, Herman.
Beltrán is a Spanish-Italian surname of initially Italian origin with the first record of the surname found at the University of Bologna. Centuries later, the surname primarily came to be found in the Catalan-speaking region of eastern Spain and southern France. It derives from the Germanic words berht ("bright") and hramn ("raven"). It shares this same Germanic origin with Bertrand (French) and Bertram (German). Other variations of surnames derived from Beltrán include Beltrami, Beltrame, Beltrano, Beltrandi, Beltrando, Beltrand, Bertrami, Bertram, Bertrandi, Bertrando, Beltramelli, Bertrandi, Beltramini, Bertramelli, Bertamin, Tramell and many more. In non-Spanish speaking countries, the accent is usually omitted as Beltran.
Geoffrey is an English and German masculine given name. It is generally considered the Anglo-Norman form of the Germanic compound *gudą 'god' and *friþuz 'peace'. It is a derivative of Dutch Godfried, German Gottfried and Old English Gotfrith and Godfrith.
Gilbert is a given name of Norman-French origin, itself from Germanic Gisilberht or Gisalberht. Original spellings included Gislebert, Guilbert and Gilebert. The first element, Gil-, comes from Germanic gīsil, meaning "shaft of an arrow" or gisal "pledge, hostage", while the second element, -bert comes from Germanic -behrt, short form of beraht, meaning "bright" or "famous". The name spread in France and was introduced to England by the Normans, where it was popular during the Middle Ages. That is the reason the pronunciation Gil- reflects the Northern Norman one, as opposed to Old French > French and explains the alternative spelling Guilbert with Guil-.
Seibert is a surname of German origin. It comes from the German personal name Seibert, which was formed from Old High German sigu/Old Saxon *sigi, meaning victory, and Old High German beraht/Old Saxon berht, meaning bright. The "g" was dropped and the first vowel became a diphthong. There are 3495 people with this surname in Germany, mostly in the west of the country. Variants include Siegbert, Siebert, Siepert, Seiberth, Saibert and Zeiberts.
Bert Jones is an American football quarterback.
Bert Wilson may refer to:
Bertram is both a Germanic given name and a surname, from berht ("bright") and hramn ("raven"). Notable people with the name include:
Bert Williams (1874–1922) was an American entertainer.
Bert Taylor or Tayler may refer to:
Bert Jackson may refer to:
Bert White may refer to:
Bert Lee (1880–1946) was a songwriter.
Bert Hall (1885–1948) was an American aviator and writer.
Bert Reid may refer to:
Bert James (1914–2006), Albert James, was an Australian politician.
Colbert is an English and French surname and given name of uncertain etymology. It is possible that it appeared independently several times throughout history. The name is recorded in England in the 11th century Domesday Book in Devon, Cheshire, and Lincolnshire. This English surname was originally a given name that may have meant "cool" and "bright"; see also Bert.
