Bert (name)

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, Bartholomew, 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. 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 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.

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 or the first vowel. 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, 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, Ingbert, Isambard (Isembert), Norbert, Robert, Tolbert, Wilbert
names with Bert- as first element
* Bertram, Berthold, Bertrand

Names abbreviated "Bert"

The following names are commonly abbreviated as "Bert":

People called Bert

Bert Abbey, American baseball player
Bert Acosta, American aviator
Bert Adams, American baseball player
Bert Adams (politician), American politician
Bert Addinall, English professional footballer
Bert Anciaux, Belgian politician and founder and former member of Spirit
Bert Assirati, English professional wrestler
Bert Auburn, American football player
Bert Bell, National Football League commissioner
Bert Berns, American songwriter and record producer in the 1960s
Bert Blyleven , Dutch-born American baseball player
Bert Bos , Dutch computer scientist working for W3C
Bert Brown,, Canadian politician
Bert Convy , American singer, actor and game show host
Bert Cunningham, American baseball player
Bert Glover, Australian rules footballer
Bert I. Gordon, American film director and screenwriter
Bert Haanstra , Dutch film director
Bert Hargrave , Canadian politician
Bert Kaempfert , German orchestra leader
Bert Koenders , Dutch politician
Bert Kreischer,, American comedian
Bert Laeyendecker, Dutch sociologist
Bert Lahr, American actor and comedian
Bert McCracken , American lead singer of alternative band The Used
Bert McKinnon Australian actor in short film such as 'Invasion'
Bert van Marwijk , Dutch football player and coach
Bert Newton , Australian entertainer and media personality
Bert Nievera, Filipino-American singer
Bert Parks, American actor, singer, host of Miss America from 1955 to 1979
Bert Peletier, Dutch mathematician
Bert Peters (composer), American composer
Bert Peters, Australian rules footballer
Bert Sakmann , German cell biologist, winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize for Medicine
Bert Schneider, Canadian Olympic champion welterweight boxer
Bert Stenfeldt, Swedish Air Force major general
Bert Trautmann , German football player
Bert Vaux, American linguist
Bert Vogelstein, American cancer researcher
Bert Weckhuysen, Belgian chemist
Bert Wheeler, American comedian
Bert Williams, Bahamian-born American entertainer
Bert Williams (footballer, born 1920), England football player
Bert Wipiti, New Zealand fighter pilot

As a surname

Joris Bert, French baseball player
Liliane Bert, French actress
Mabel Bert, Australian-American actress
Margaret Bert, British-American actress
Paul Bert, French physiologist

Fictional characters

Albert "Bert" Sanders, a character in the 1997 television movie On the 2nd Day of Christmas played by Mark Ruffalo
Bert (Sesame Street), a Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street
Bert Barry, a Co-writer and producer of Pretty Lady on the Broadway musical play 42nd 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
Bert Schnick, a character from the 1981 musical satire film Shock Treatment
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 List of [Thomas & Friends characters|14 Berts] which are: Bertie, Bert the Miniature Engine, Iron Bert, Wilbert Awdry the Thin Clergyman, Sir Robert Norramby, Albert, Albert the Mid Sodor engine, Bertram, Sir Bertram Topham Hatt, Bert the porter, Bert the cleaner, Wilbert the Forest Engine, Bert the worker and "Coke" Bert from a magazine story.