Cobi
Masculine · “Hebrew”
Cobi is given to both — 684 boys and 265 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Cobi is Jacob cut from the front, which English almost never does. We take the head of a name and discard the tail — Robert to Rob, Nicholas to Nick — so a short form that keeps the tail instead stands out. Cobi is the back half of Jacob with the J removed.
How old is the name Cobi?
Cobi first appears in US birth records in 1992 — 33 years ago. The typical Cobi alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 700 people named Cobi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cobi most popular?
Cobi peaked in 1995, reaching #2346 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 4,848 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Where it comes from
From יַעֲקֹב (Yaʿaqov) to Cobi
The story of Cobi
Hebrew and Israeli naming clips from the back readily — Yaakov gives Kobi, Yosef gives Sefi, Mordechai gives Motti — which is a different habit from English. Kobi and Cobi are the standard Israeli short forms of Yaakov and are used as full names. Separately, Cobi was the name of the mascot of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, a very widely seen figure, and the American 1995 peak follows that visibility with the usual lag as well as reflecting Israeli-American usage.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew, disputed: "heel-holder" or "may God protect"
Jacob is Yaʿaqov. Genesis connects it to ʿaqev, a heel, because Jacob is born holding his brother's heel — and the same word gives a verb meaning to supplant. But many scholars take the name as a shortened theophoric, Yaʿaqov-El, may God protect, which would be an ordinary Semitic name type. The biblical explanation may be a folk etymology attached to a name that already existed.
How the name formed
- יַעֲקֹבYaʿaqov
- Yaakov
- Kobi
- Cobi
Related forms: קובי (Kobi) · Jacob · Jacobo
Pronouncing Cobi
KOH-bee
Two syllables with the stress on the first and a long O. Hebrew gives the same shape. Cobi and Kobi are identical aloud; Coby and Kobe are the same name with different endings.
Nicknames for Cobi
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1992
- Most boys named
- 199936 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2346reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- −21.4%11 in 2025, from 14
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cobi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- קובי (Kobi) in Hebrew — same name
- Jacob in English — related form
- Jacobo in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida.
Cobis among us
people named Cobi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Cobi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cobi
- #7194
- Cobi on the 2025 chart
- #710
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cobi went to 11 boys in 2025, but Coby, Koby and Kobi are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 220, which makes it the 710th most-given boys’ name of the year — 6,484 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 7,764 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 155,280 for Cobi itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Deo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cobi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Deo climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Deo's path sketches the road Cobi is walking now.
Cobi sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Cobi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cobi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It connects to one of the oldest names in continuous use anywhere.
- It is short, four letters, and impossible to mispronounce.
- The back-clipping is a genuine Hebrew habit rather than an American invention.
- It reads as a nickname on formal documents.
- Cobi, Kobi, Coby and Kobe all appear and are close in sound.
- The meaning of the parent name is genuinely disputed.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Cobi to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Cobi? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Cobi
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cobis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Cobi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cobi?
- Cobi is one of 4 recorded spellings. Coby is the more common one — 84 births in 2025 against 11 for Cobi.
- How popular is the name Cobi in 2025?
- Cobi ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cobi?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Cobi — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cobi with classmates?
- Cobi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cobi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Macon#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cobi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cobi and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle