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Coby

Masculine · “supplanter”

Coby is given to both — 9,484 boys and 381 girls since 1880. See other names given to both

1941high 2001
#1867 in the U.S.stepping back from its peak
falling84 boys in 2025

Coby is Jacob shortened from the back — the Hebrew for heel-holder, cut down to the last two syllables and softened.

How old is the name Coby?

Coby first appears in US birth records in 1941 — 84 years ago. The typical Coby alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 9,200 people named Coby are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Coby most popular?

Coby peaked in 2001, reaching #462 nationally. Today it ranks #1867, 1,405 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.

Compare this nameMore “C” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Coby

Jacob wrestles the angel and is renamed Israel; the name has never left European use. Hebrew speech makes Kobi from Yaakov by clipping the back rather than the front, which is unusual. Dutch does the same with Koby. American families registered Coby outright from the 1980s and it is in current use.

Meaning

supplanter, heel-holder

Through Jacob, from the Hebrew Yaakov, connected in Genesis to aqev, 'heel' — the twin born gripping his brother's. Dutch Koby and Hebrew Kobi are the same back-clipping. The gloss is given in the biblical text, which makes it unusually secure.

How the name formed

  1. Yaakov
  2. Jacob
  3. Coby

Related forms: Kobi · Koby · Kobe

Pronouncing Coby

KOH-bee

Two syllables, stress on the first. Coby, Kobi and Kobe are said identically in American use.

Nicknames for Coby

Moderate

CobeA bare clipping, used inside families rather than generally
JacobThe parent form, available as the formal version and fully current
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 1941–202551625805168419412025

US babies named Coby per year from 1941 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#4621940s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1941
Most boys named
2001516 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#462reached in 2001
Change vs 2023
−30.0%84 in 2025, from 120
Coby is past its biggest year. The count topped out at 516 boys in 2001 and has eased 84% since — the slow half of a naming cycle, where a name stays familiar while getting steadily less common. The move since 2023: down 30.0%.

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.

Coby in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Kobi in Hebrew — related form
  • Koby in Dutch — related form
  • Kobe in English — spelling variant

Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, New York, California.

Cobys among us

9,200

people named Coby are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 boy in 20,334 born in 2025 was named Coby

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Coby

#1867
Coby on the 2025 chart
#710
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Coby went to 84 boys in 2025, but Koby, Kobi and Cobi 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 — 1,157 places above the chart.

About 1 boy in 7,764 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 20,334 for Coby 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

III

Is it right for you

The Elwin test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Coby's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Elwin climbed just as high around 1914, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Elwin's path sketches the road Coby is walking now.

40%chance Coby will feel dated by 2040
Coby, aligned on its peakElwin· peak 1914not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+70 yrsElwin · #3924Coby today
Coby today is about where Elwin stood in 1938 — 24 years past a #462-sized peak. By 1953, Elwin had settled around #1092.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Coby 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

Where Coby is headed

19412030

US babies named Coby per year, 1941 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Coby should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady-4% by 2030projected around #2,004 in 2030

Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Coby beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Coby in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Cobythis name84#1867Bryar84#1867Ishan84#1867Jakhari84#1867Fidel84#1867

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • The Jacob story behind it is one of the most vivid in Genesis.
  • Jacob is available as a full formal version.
  • The back-clipping is genuinely unusual and specifically Hebrew.
What to consider
  • Kobe is much the commoner spelling in America and carries a strong association.
  • As a diminutive on the certificate it carries an informal register.
  • Colby is close enough to cause confusion.

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Coby

Masculine · #1867 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Cobys are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,200 people named Coby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Coby?
Coby is the most-used spelling in US records — 84 of the 220 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Koby, Kobi and Cobi.
How popular is the name Coby in 2025?
Coby ranks #1867 among US boy names in 2025, with 84 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Coby?
About 1 in every 20,334 US boys born in 2025 was named Coby — 84 in all.
Will my child share the name Coby with classmates?
Coby will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Coby

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Bryar#1867 · Ishan#1867 · Jakhari#1867 · Fidel#1867 · Kasper#1867 · Klay#1867 · Brighton#1867 · Armon#1867

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Coby? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Coby and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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