A male name. Old German Gisilbert, compound of gisil ‘pledge’ and berhta ‘bright’. The name was introduced into England by the Normans and is common in Domesday Book, though not found earlier. It was a favourite throughout the Middle Ages, as is shown by the numerous common surnames formed from it, e.g. Gilbert, Gilbertson, Gilbart, Gilson; Gibb, Gibbs, Gibson, Gibbon, Gibbons, Gibbin, Gibbins (from the common pet-form Gib and its diminutive Gibbon), Gipps, Gilby, Gilpin, &c. In the 15th C it is usually spelt Gylbart or Gylbard (cf. Robart for Robert, Hubbard for Hubert). Gib was a common nickname for a cat (cf. Hamlet’s ‘from a paddock, from a bat, a gib, such dear concernings hide’). Gistlebertus Domesday Book 1086. Gilbertus Curia Regis Rolls 1186-1220 passim, Hundred Rolls 1273. Gylbarde 15th C Brut. Gilebert Hundred Rolls 1273. Gilberd Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379.

In Old Ger., Ghiseler, ‘bright pledge,’ or Giselhar, ‘the pledged warrior’; in Old Frankish, Giselbert, whence, by contraction, Gilbert. (Not, as sometimes explained, gelb-bert, ‘yellow bright.’) ‘There were four saints so called, namely, an abbot of Fontenelle, a great friend of William the Conqueror, an Auvergnat knight in the second Crusade, the English founder (12th century) of the order of Gilbertine monks, and a bishop of Caithness, and it has been a prevalent name in England, Scotland, and the Low Countries,’ Yonge.

Some derive this name from the Norman Giselbert; others translate it ‘bright pledge, or bright as gold.’ It has been corrupted down from the Old German name Childebert, from child-brecht, distinguished warrior. The nickname is Gib.

Teutonic (masculine) - Light of many.

A Teutonic name, meaning: Bright pledge: bright: golden: famed.

A Gaelic name: Gilleabart, Gillebride. Gilbert is from Anglo-Saxon Gislebert, “Bright hostage”; Gillebride is St Bridget’s slave, an exceedingly common name once, but now little used.