Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : habitational name from places so named in Merseyside (formerly in Cheshire) and County Durham or from Roby in Merseyside (formerly in Lancashire). The first is named from Old Scandinavian ‘pole’ + býr ‘farmstead’, ‘settlement’.
  • French : variant of Rabin.
  • German : habitational name from Raby in Bohemia or perhaps from Rabingen in Lower Saxony.
  • Probably from the Saintonge region of France, a Raby or Rabis was documented in Quebec City in 1689, with the secondary surname Saintonge.

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe