Robynn is a modern spelling of Robin, from Robert, meaning bright fame.
Robynn is a feminine spelling variation of Robin or Robyn, itself a medieval diminutive of the Old Germanic name Robert, composed of the elements *hrod* (fame) and *beraht* (bright) — meaning, in sum, "bright fame." The name traveled from the continent into England with the Normans, where it quickly spawned pet forms that took on lives of their own. By the Middle Ages, Robin was firmly established as both a masculine nickname and, occasionally, an independent given name for both sexes.
The name carries one of English folklore's most iconic associations: Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw of Sherwood Forest whose stories have been retold across eight centuries of ballads, plays, novels, and films. Yet the name also draws from the natural world — the robin redbreast, harbinger of spring in British and American tradition, lends the name a quality of warmth and seasonal optimism. Female bearers of Robyn have included Welsh singer Robyn Hitchcock and Swedish pop star Robyn (born Robin Miriam Carlsson), who reclaimed the spelling as fiercely modern.
The Robynn spelling, with its double-n, emerged as part of the mid-twentieth-century American trend toward feminizing and individualizing classic names through novel orthography. It peaked in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s alongside Robyn and Robin, and today reads as a slightly vintage, distinctive choice — familiar enough to need no explanation, rare enough to feel genuinely personal.