Rab
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Rab is a short form of the forename Robert. There are two main types of such shortenings: they are convenient for writing, e.g. in lists; or they are essentially spoken pet-names, and thus informal. (See Conventional abbreviations for forenames.)
Short form | Long form | Informal or written | Other short forms | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rab | Robert | informal | Bobbie/Bobby; Rabbie; Robby; Dob; Hob; Nob(by); Rob(bie);Robin |
There is a list of similar names at Conventional abbreviations for forenames, as well as the category:short names
- Note that any informal form may be spelled in different ways. Notably, any spelling listed that ends in '-ie' may be written with the ending '-y', and vice versa.
- Admirers of the Scots poet Robert Burns (1729-1796) sometimes call him Rabbie or Rab. This may have influenced the choice of name for the blackly comic character in a TV series, Rab C. Nesbitt, who might describe himself as a 'Govan low-life' or 'scumbag' - a working class (but unemployed) inhabitant of the Glasgow district; a street philosopher and confronter of many of the social issues afflicting the poor in Scotland - and Britain generally in the twenty-first century, such as drugs, alcohol, the relations between the sexes, welfare-ism, neo-nazism, religion, the rich and patronizing, etc.; and one conscious of his nationality and proud of the way he speaks - which may be impenetrable to many English people.