Tobey
Masculine
Tobey is given to both — 1,698 boys and 758 girls since 1880. See Tobey as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Tobey is recorded for boys and girls alike and is a short form of a name from a book that not every Bible contains. That book is unlike anything else in the collection: it is essentially a folk tale, with a journey, a demon, a cure and a dog.
How old is the name Tobey?
Tobey first appears in US birth records in 1924 — 101 years ago. The typical Tobey alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 1,600 people named Tobey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tobey most popular?
Tobey peaked in 1975, reaching #1160 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 7,750 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Tobey
A young man is sent on a journey to collect a debt, and a stranger offers to guide him. On the way a fish tries to bite him, the stranger tells him to keep the heart, liver and gall, and those organs turn out to be exactly what is needed: two of them drive off a demon that has killed seven previous husbands of the woman he marries, and the third cures his father's blindness. The stranger is the archangel Raphael in disguise and says so at the end. There is also a dog, which goes along and comes back, mentioned twice for no plot reason at all, and it is the only dog in the whole Bible that anybody is pleased to see.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Tobias comes from a Hebrew name about the goodness of God, and that reading is documented. This spelling is a short form written with an ey ending and is not documented directly.
Pronouncing Tobey
TOH-bee
Two syllables with the stress in front. The ey ending is said exactly like a y.
Nicknames for Tobey
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
- 1924
- Most boys named
- 200477 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1160reached in 1975
- Change vs 2023
- +33.3%8 in 2025, from 6
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.
Tobey in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Tobeys among us
people named Tobey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Tobey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Lemar test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tobey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lemar climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lemar's path sketches the road Tobey is walking now.
Tobey 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
Tobey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tobey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is read correctly at first sight and never needs spelling out loud.
- It is recorded for boys and for girls, so it does not force a reading on anyone.
- It is short, quick to write and easy for a child to learn.
- Toby is the commoner spelling and this one will be corrected to it regularly.
- It is also a common name for a dog, which people will mention.
- No origin is documented for this spelling, so the meaning question belongs to the longer name.
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What they receive
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Tobey
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tobeys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Tobey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tobey in 2025?
- Tobey ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tobey?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Tobey — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tobey with classmates?
- Tobey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tobey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tobey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tobey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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