Corbet is supposed to have been first recorded in Pays de Caux, Normandy, as the name of a Norman baron named "Corbet le Normand" (Corbet the Northman) who was born in the early 11th century. The name Corbet derives from the Anglo-Norman French word corb, meaning "crow." It is a diminutive form, hence meaning "little crow". The modern French word corbeau is generally translated as "crow". Variants of the name include: Corbet, Corbett, Corbitt, Corbit, Corbetts, Corbete, Corben and possibly the variant of Corbin. It has cognates in other languages: the Spanish name Cuervo, for example, which generally means a raven or rook. The underlying derivation is from the Latin word corvus, crow. Generally it is thought to be a jocular reference to a person who was thought to resemble a crow: in hair