Name «Bob»

**The Name Bob**

The name Bob has been recorded in Ukraine and Poland since the 15th century. Specifically, there are records of Bobopryshak from the city of Seret (SSUM I, p. 103) and a mention from 1578 regarding a serf named Boba in the village of Verbovets (Szabó 540). In 1628, there is information about a person who complained about "Boba" in the city of Zhytomyr (SSUM XIV - XVII centuries, III1).

Starting from the 15th century, many surnames in Ukraine have been documented that derive from the anthroponymic root Bob-. For instance, in 1476, Opanas Bobyn from the village of Khmeliv is recorded (SSUM I, p. 103), as well as the anthroponym Boba from the village of Verbovets in 1578 (Szabó 540). In the 17th century, there is the well-known Parchom Bob (AK-PGU 15), and in 1720, serfs Bobik Stefan and Bobonik were documented (Belay 178), as well as serf Lad.Bobak in 1715 (Belay 200).

The origin of the anthroponymic root Bob- is debated. Bulgarian, Serbian, and Czech surnames link this name with its derivatives Bob and Boba, as well as with the full forms of the names Bohdan, Boris, and Slobodan (Ilchev 78; Grk 37; Śim 398; Knappová 77).

According to M. Grkovic, the Serbian male name Bob may have derived from some compound name with the prepositional component Bob-, which is not yet documented, or from the diminutive names Bohdan or Bogoslav (Grk 29). Other scholars believe that the ancient Slavic name Bob may be connected to the name of the plant bean (Moldanová 45) or its fruit.

According to D. Bohdan, the name Bob was given to individuals of short stature, as well as to people who consumed beans (Bohdan 257).