I think Lynch used this name for a good reason.

I've noticed that the name Robert and Bob and Hob (a familiarisation of Rob) turns up quite often with evil and mischief. Fire Walk With Me. What does that mean? Well, Robert means Fame Bright.

Bob walk with me.

In medieval England Robin Goodfellow(Puck) was a mischeivous fairy. Hobgoblin derives from Rob Goblin. Robin was a name associated with the devil. Robin Artisson was a form the devil took.

"She, Dame Alice, was also known to have a Magistellus or Demon/Familiar (called Robinus Filius Artis, Robin Artisson or Robin, Son of Art) that came to her in the form of an animal, sometimes in the form of a cat and sometimes in the form of a large black, shaggy dog, and at times even in the form of a black man who was attended by two swarthy servants that carried iron rods. It is with the primary demon Robin, considered to be from the poorer classes of hell, that Dame Alice had sexual congress and from whom she exacted all her wealth."

http://www.hedgewytchery.com/damealice.html

Which may have lead to the name for that outlaw,and trickster, Robin Hood. By no means as nice a guy as is portrayed today.

In ancient Hebrew there is Rahab. a force of chaos and a serpent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahab_(demon)

Also in Hebrew the word Robet is a door way demon. The word Rabisu is another demon.

"in these incantations we make the acquaintance of a large number of strange demons such as the rabisu, a demon that springs unawares on its victims; the labartu, which attacks women and children; and the lilu and the lilitu, to which reference has been made before, and the utuku, a strong demon. "

http://www.godrules.net/library/anonymous/66anonymous_b0.htm

Hobomoko. The native american Indian satan.

"

If you know anything about folklore (and who will admit otherwise?), then you no doubt expect that there is more than one version of this story. You will not be disappointed. A text of the legend published in 1850 links the South Kingstown site to a well-known geological wonder in Middletown. One of the three different versions of the Purgatory Chasm legend betrays its probable colonial origins, during a time when European Christians were converting, if not the Native Americans themselves, then at least their ancient spirits. Most of these mythological and legendary beings, such as Cheepie and Hobomoko, were transformed into the devil or at least demons.

"In this legend, an Indian woman murdered a white man near Wickford. Just as she attempts to escape, a stern-looking English gentleman appears, asking if she will walk with him for a short distance. She balks, but cannot escape before he seizes her by the arm. As she cries out for Hobomoko to save her, her attacker reveals, "I'm Hobomoko." Then, dropping his disguise, the devil grabs her by the waist, stamps the ground fiercely once or twice, and flies with her to Purgatory Chasm, plunging her into its turbulent waters. The story concludes, "To this day may be seen near Wickford the footprints of Satan on the surface of a ledge near the road. One has the form of a cloven hoof, and the other has exactly the shape and size of a human foot, even to the mark of the great toe."

http://www.quahog.org/factsfolklore/index.php?id=91

Robert The Devil.

"Robert the Devil is a legend of medieval origin. Robert is the devil's own child, for his mother, despairing of heaven's aid in order to obtain a son, has addressed herself to the devil. It is also the usual translation for the title of Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera Robert le Diable, which has little in common with the legend except the name of the hero."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_le_Diable

Now things get weirder.

The name Robert appears in modern times.

Freddy Krueger, played by Robert Englund.

Pennywise from King's IT; real name Robert Grey.

In Barker's Candyman 2 The killers name is revealed as daniel Robitaille.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candyman_%28slasher%29

More later.

Robin was a name associated with the devil

Uh Oh - Does Batman know about this ??? 

Ted Robert Bundy.

Who sometimes adopted an English Accent when he picked up victims, who he took to the woods. Two characters that often turn up with "bob". England and the woods.

The woods more often.

Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw 2 is called Bubba Sawyer, His brother, Top chop Is Robert Sawyer.

Leatherface is later played by Robert Jacks in LEATHERFACE.

Michael Myers takes on the persona of Bob, who he has just killed, and dresses in a sheet to pretend he is him. (flimsy, I know)

The original case of posession and exorcism that inspired THE EXORCIST was about a boy called Bobby.

Maniac Cop was played by Robert D'Zar.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095583/

There's more.

The Crazy telekinetic in THE FURY was Robert. He kills those arabs in that crazy fairground spinny thing ride. V Funny.

 The character relates back to Robin Hood...I guess.

Rob is a complex character. Sometimes he's a good guy, but a bit odd or twisted.

A boy in tights?

Then there's Barbossa, from Pirates of the Caribean. Sounds like Bob. He takes his name from the pirate Barbarossa. RED BEARD.

The colours red and green often turn up with Bob. Relating back to the fairy Robin Goodfellow. Red and green are colours of the fairy folk. As is Freddy Kruegers jumper. Robert ENGLUND. England.

Then there's Lynch's other Bob. The character he painted about.

"

Over the last few years Lynch has been painting several series of nightmarish landscapes, each peopled with vague shapes in opaque, dusky landscapes. One such series is called The Mr. Jim Series; another, The Bob Series, perhaps inspired by his love for the Bob's Big Boy restaurant in Los Angeles where he used to breakfast daily on 'four, five, six cups of coffee - with lots of sugar'. He's since given up sugar as a creative catalyst but his vision remains somewhat frantic. We both stare at a work called Bob Burns Tree. I ask him to talk me through its gestation.

'Well, it's called Bob Burns Tree,' he says, pointing to the Bob figure and then to the tree. 'I knew from the start it was going be about, well, Bob burning a tree. I started with that idea and I kind of stayed with it. Yep.'" 

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2020733,00.html

"

Probably more zealously adulated in France than anywhere else, Lynch gives the Paris press its money's worth in terms of elusive vagueness. He's asked about Bob, who appears in some of his paintings - Bob's Dream, Bob Burns Tree, the Max Ernst-like Bob Finds Himself in a World For Which He Has No Understanding - as a distorted homunculus, an enfeebled Ubu-esque humanoid, but a figure not, apparently, to be confused with the murderous Bob of Lynch's TV series Twin Peaks, nor with the figurehead of Lynch's one-time haunt, Bob's Big Boy Diner . "This is a different Bob," Lynch explains. "There are many people in the world in Bob. There's something about the sound of the name, and something about the shape of this particular Bob got me going. Bob is a person who is experiencing different things in the world. I kind of identify with Bob in some ways." Half the room scribbles furiously: you rather imagine that the next day, several French newspapers carried the headline, "BOB, C'EST MOI"."

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article2347960.ece

The Beast Rabban from Dune.

Boba Fett. Bob Fossil from the Mighty Boosh. RobbieRotten from LazyTown. Side show Bob from Simpsons.Eddie Quist the serial killer werewolf from The Howling played by Robert Picardo. The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, played by Robert Helpmann. The Aborigini God Bobbi Bobbi who brought the boomerang to the natives. The Incredible Hulk was mistakenly called Bob in The Fantastic Four and it became canonical.