Robert Byrd: Hi. My name is Robert Byrd. Byrd is spelled B-Y-R-D. It's an old way of spelling bird, like a bird that flies. Some people are confused by the Y, and I have had my name pronounced Beard, Baird, and Bired. When I visited Italy, people had trouble saying my name, because the Italian language doesn't have a Y, so I would say, "il mio nome significa uccello in Inglese," and that means, "my name means 'bird' in English."