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Koby

Masculine · “heel-holder”

Koby is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 6,038 boys against 97 girls since 1880.

1958high 2000
#2167 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare66 boys in 2025

Koby is Jacob shortened — the heel-holder, who came out of the womb gripping his twin's foot — and the Hebrew says so literally.

How old is the name Koby?

Koby first appears in US birth records in 1958 — 67 years ago. The typical Koby alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 5,900 people named Koby are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Koby most popular?

Koby peaked in 2000, reaching #531 nationally. Today it ranks #2167, 1,636 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.

Compare this nameMore “K” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Koby

Jacob is named for grasping his brother's heel at birth, and the name is turned against him later when Esau says he has supplanted him twice. Kobi is a standard Israeli short form of Ya'akov. Kobe Bryant made a homophone spelling famous. Koby appears in American records in current use.

Meaning

heel-holder, supplanter

Through Jacob, from the Hebrew Ya'aqov, built on aqev, 'heel'. Genesis has him born holding Esau's heel and the text plays on the word again when he takes the birthright. Koby is a modern English and Israeli short form. The Hebrew is documented.

How the name formed

  1. aqev
  2. Ya'aqov
  3. Koby

Related forms: קובי · Kobi · Coby

Pronouncing Koby

KOH-bee

Two syllables, stress on the first. All the spellings of the sound are said identically.

Nicknames for Koby

Moderate

KobA bare clipping, used inside families rather than generally
JacobThe parent form, available as a fuller and more formal version
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 1958–202541120604116619582025

US babies named Koby per year from 1958 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#5311950s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1958
Most boys named
2000411 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#531reached in 2000
Change vs 2024
−9.6%66 in 2025, from 73
Koby sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2000, with 411 boys. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Koby in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • קובי in Hebrew — transliteration
  • Kobi in English — spelling variant
  • Coby in English — spelling variant

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

Kobys among us

5,900

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

About 1 boy in 25,880 born in 2025 was named Koby

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

Spellings of Koby

#2167
Koby on the 2025 chart
#710
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Koby went to 66 boys in 2025, but Coby, 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 — 1,457 places above the chart.

About 1 boy in 7,764 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 25,880 for Koby 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 Sherwood test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Koby's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sherwood climbed just as high around 1938, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sherwood's path sketches the road Koby is walking now.

40%chance Koby will feel dated by 2040
Koby, aligned on its peakSherwood· peak 1938not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+70 yrsSherwood · #9580Koby today
Koby today is about where Sherwood stood in 1963 — 25 years past a #532-sized peak. By 1978, Sherwood had settled around #1786.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Koby 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 Koby is headed

19582030

US babies named Koby per year, 1958 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

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

Steady-12% by 2030projected around #2,480 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.

Koby beside its neighbors

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

Kobythis name66#2167Johnathon66#2167Whitaker66#2167Sir66#2167Iver66#2167

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That the name records a detail of the birth itself is a first-rate piece of Genesis.
  • Jacob is available as a full formal version.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
What to consider
  • At least four spellings of the sound are in circulation.
  • One basketball player dominates the association for many Americans.
  • It reads as a diminutive rather than a full name.

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Koby

Masculine · #2167 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Kobys are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,900 people named Koby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Koby?
Koby is one of 4 recorded spellings. Coby is the more common one — 84 births in 2025 against 66 for Koby.
How popular is the name Koby in 2025?
Koby ranks #2167 among US boy names in 2025, with 66 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Koby?
About 1 in every 25,880 US boys born in 2025 was named Koby — 66 in all.
Will my child share the name Koby with classmates?
Koby will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Koby

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Johnathon#2167 · Whitaker#2167 · Sir#2167 · Iver#2167 · Binyomin#2167 · June#2167 · Sylus#2167 · Kipp#2167

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

Choosing between Koby and another name?

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

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