圆顶硬礼帽是毛毡帽的一种，在1850年由英国人爱德华·寇克发明。起先设计的出发点是利用硬式材质来保护头部，但在19世纪后期开始普及，主要原因是这种圆顶硬礼帽有些类似上流社会配戴的高顶丝质礼帽，但价格又不那么高昂，毛毡的质料也容易清洗，因此颇受社会小康阶层欢迎。

在英国伦敦，圆顶硬礼帽曾是英国绅士与文化的象征。在1960年代才逐渐式微，今日多数的英国年轻人没有看过圆顶硬礼帽做为正式礼服的样子。在北爱尔兰每年7月12日的游行时，橙党都会戴上圆顶硬礼帽做为传统服饰，不过平日他们是不戴这种帽子的。

圆顶硬礼帽在西方有英式与美式两种讲法，英式经常称为Bowler Hat。美式则讲Derby Hat。

The bowler hat, also known as a bob hat, derby (US), or bombín, is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown originally created in 1849 for the British soldier and politician Edward Coke, the younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester. The bowler hat was popular with the working class during the Victorian era, and later on with the middle and upper classes in the United Kingdom and the eastern United States. Later in the United Kingdom, it would come to be worn as civilian work dress by former officers of the Queen's Guard. In Bolivia, women of Quechua people have worn bowler hats since the 1920s when British railway workers introduced them there.