Where the De Robertis surname comes from
De Robertis means “the sons, the family of Robert.” Roberto is a name of Germanic origin, made of hrod, “glory,” and berht, “bright”: “glorious in fame.” The Lombards brought it to the South, and above all the Normans. De Robertis is the learned form that notaries wrote in Latin. The initial de simply means “of the,” “of the family of,” and is not a sign of nobility.
A dynasty of letters
Among the many branches of the surname, one left a deep mark on Italian culture. A father and a son, born in different cities, gave the 1900s two of its finest critics and philologists. The PDF tells who they were, and which other De Robertis made their way.
Where the De Robertis families live today
De Robertis is a southern surname: about 1,600 people carry it in Italy, mostly in Apulia. Its heartland is the Bari area, with Molfetta and Putignano. There is also an old branch in Naples, and the families in Lombardy came for work in the 1900s. Worldwide there are about 1,900 De Robertis. The PDF has the region-by-region map and the countries around the world they reached.
Variants
The same name appears in a few related forms, born from differences in spelling in the old registers. The PDF explains which one belongs to which town.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| De Robertis | Apulia (Molfetta, Bari), Campania (Naples) |
| Derobertis | Putignano (Bari) |
| De Roberti | transcription variant |
| Deroberti | transcription variant, nearly unique |
| De Roberto | more widespread elsewhere in the South |
FAQ
What does the surname De Robertis mean?
“The sons, the family of Robert.” Roberto is an old Germanic name meaning “glorious in fame,” brought to the South by the Normans and the Lombards.
Is De Robertis an Apulian surname?
Mostly, yes. The heartland is the Bari area, in Molfetta and Putignano. There is also an old branch in Naples, in Campania.
Are De Robertis and Derobertis the same surname?
Yes. Derobertis, written as one word, is the spelling linked mostly to Putignano. Different spellings do not mean different families: it depends on how the parish priest or the clerk wrote the surname.
Does the “de” in De Robertis mean nobility?
No. It simply means “of the” or “of the family of”: an old way of tying children to the name of the founding ancestor, common throughout the South.
Are all De Robertis related?
No. The surname was born in more than one place from the same name. People who carry it do not necessarily descend from a single family, but almost always from one specific branch in their own area.
Is the De Robertis surname noble?
No. There is no record of an old noble house of De Robertis with a documented coat of arms. It was the surname of farmers, craftsmen and, later, scholars.
Is there a De Robertis family coat of arms?
No. A surname, by itself, has never had a coat of arms. If you find a “De Robertis coat of arms” for sale, it has no documented link to your family.
How many De Robertis are there in the world?
About 1,900, and the great majority live in Italy. Abroad the largest groups are in Argentina, the United States and Australia.
