Bert is a hypocoristic form of a number of various Germanic given names, such as Robert, Albert, Elbert, Herbert, Hilbert, Hubert, Gilbert, Wilbert, Filbert, Fulbert, 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, Uberto, 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 underwent 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.
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Names containing berht
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.
Given names that remain in modern use include:
names with -bert as final element
Albert/Æthelberht, Cuthbert, Dagobert, Elbert, Egbert, Engelbert, Filbert, Gerbert, Gilbert, Harbert, Herbert, Hubert, Humbert, Norbert, Robert, Tolbert, Wilbert
names with Bert- as first element
Bertram, Berthold, Bertrand
Names abbreviated "Bert"
The following names are commonly abbreviated as "Bert":
Albert/Adalbert (Æthelbert)
Berthold/Bertold
Bertrand/Bertram
Colbert
Gilbert
Heribert/Herbert
Hubert
Lambert
Norbert
Robert
Cumbert
People called Bert
Bert Abbey (1869–1962), American baseball player
Bert Acosta (1895–1954), American aviator
Bert Adams (1891–1940), American baseball player
Bert Adams (politician) (1916–2003), American politician
Bert Addinall (1921–2005), English professional footballer
Bert Anciaux (born 1959), Belgian politician and founder and former member of Spirit (later known as the Social Liberal Party, or SLP)
Bert Assirati (1908–1990), English professional wrestler
Bert Auburn, American football player
Bert Bell (1895–1959), National Football League commissioner
Bert Berns (1929–1967), American songwriter and record producer in the 1960s
Bert Blyleven (Aalbert) (born 1951), Dutch-born American baseball player
Bert Bos (Gijsbert) (born 1963), Dutch computer scientist working for W3C
Bert Brown, (1938–2018), Canadian politician
Bert Carpelan (1895–1981), Swedish Army officer
Bert Convy (Bernard) (1933–1991), American singer, actor and game show host
Bert Cunningham (1865–1952), American baseball player
As a surname
Joris Bert (born 1987), French baseball player
Liliane Bert (1922–2015), French actress
Mabel Bert (née Mabel Scott, 1862–1???), Australian-American actress
Margaret Bert (1896–1971), British-American actress
Paul Bert (1833–1886), French physiologist
Fictional characters
Bert (Sesame Street), a Muppet character (of Bert and Ernie) on the children's television show Sesame Street
Bert Ljung, a fictional character in the Bert diaries
Bert (Mary Poppins), a Cockney chimney sweep in the book series and Disney film Mary Poppins. Played in the film by Dick Van Dyke
Bert Raccoon, a lead character in TV series The Raccoons
Bertie Pollock, a child in the 44 Scotland Street series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith
Bertie Wooster, a gentlemen attended by Jeeves in the comedies of P. G. Wodehouse
In Thomas & Friends there are 14 Berts
