From Old French "corbet" meaning "little crow" or "raven," originally a Norman surname.
Corbett derives from the Old French and Anglo-Norman corbet, a diminutive of corb — crow — itself drawn from the Latin corvus. It entered England with Norman settlers after the Conquest of 1066, becoming first a nickname (presumably for someone with crow-like features or habits), then a hereditary surname. The Corbett family was a notable Norman dynasty in the Welsh Marches, and the name is documented in English records from the twelfth century onward.
Crows have occupied a paradoxical place in Western symbolism — simultaneously omens of ill fortune and totems of intelligence and adaptability — giving the name a subtle, interesting ambiguity. As a given name, Corbett is most familiar through James J. Corbett, the San Francisco boxer who defeated the legendary John L.
Sullivan in 1892 to claim the world heavyweight championship. Known as Gentleman Jim for his scientific footwork and composed demeanor, Corbett was one of the most famous Americans of the 1890s and his name entered wide circulation as a result. The surname-to-first-name pipeline, common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, carried Corbett into nurseries across the country.
Today Corbett sits squarely in the resurgent vogue for surname-derived first names with historical texture. It shares aesthetic company with Barrett, Beckett, and Emmett — names with that same consonant-rich, slightly rough-hewn quality — while remaining distinctly less common than any of them. For parents drawn to names with genuine etymology and an unexpected backstory, Corbett delivers both.