He was born in the 1900s. Several stories would be behind his creation.
We have chosen to tell you this one; a man named Robert, also nicknamed "Bob", used to wear hats and sombreros but the problem was that they flew away all the time, at the slightest gust of wind.
One day, he had enough and therefore had the idea of creating a hat with narrower and more suitable brims for better support on the head. And so it was the nickname of the inventor who finally gave his name to this hat.