Tobi
Masculine · “the Lord is good”
Tobi is given to both — 631 boys and 2,936 girls since 1880. See Tobi as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Tobi is two names at once: the short form of Tobias, a Hebrew name meaning the Lord is good, and a Yoruba name of its own that means something like great.
How old is the name Tobi?
Tobi first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Tobi alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 600 people named Tobi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tobi most popular?
Tobi peaked in 1971, reaching #2686 nationally. Today it ranks #3583, 897 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Toviyah to Tobi
The story of Tobi
Tobias is the hero of a book that Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include and Protestant ones do not — a story with a dog, an angel and a fish in it. The name and its short forms have been in European use since the Middle Ages. The Yoruba Tobi is entirely separate: Yoruba names are often long sentences about God, and Tobi is what daily speech keeps of them. Both reach American records.
Meaningscholars disagree
the Lord is good, or great
Hebrew Toviyah joins a word for good to a form of the divine name, giving Tobias and its short forms. Separately, Yoruba Tobi is a shortening of names such as Oluwatobiloba and carries the sense of greatness. The two are unrelated and both are widely used.
How the name formed
- Toviyah
- Tobias
- Tobi
Related forms: Toby · Oluwatobi · Toviyah
Pronouncing Tobi
TOH-bee
Two syllables, first stressed. Yoruba gives both syllables even weight.
Nicknames for Tobi
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
- 1966
- Most boys named
- 202336 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2686reached in 1971
- Change vs 2024
- +19.2%31 in 2025, from 26
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.
Tobi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Toby in English — spelling variant
- Oluwatobi in Yoruba — related form
- Toviyah in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Tobis among us
people named Tobi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 55,099 born in 2025 was named Tobi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Tobi
- #3583
- Tobi on the 2025 chart
- #672
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Tobi went to 31 boys in 2025, but Toby is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 265, which makes it the 672nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,911 places above the chart.
- Toby234
- Tobi31
About 1 boy in 6,446 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 55,099 for Tobi 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 Laval test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tobi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Laval climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Laval's path sketches the road Tobi is walking now.
Tobi 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 Tobi is headed
Tobi looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Tobi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tobi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two documented ancestries, Hebrew and Yoruba, both real.
- Four letters and two syllables, very quick to write.
- Tobias stands behind it as a fuller formal option.
- Toby is the standard English spelling and will be written for him.
- It is used for both sexes in Yoruba naming, so forms may guess wrong.
- It reads as a nickname in English, which may matter on a formal document.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Tobi 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 Tobi? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Tobi
Masculine · #3583 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tobis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Tobi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Tobi?
- Tobi is one of 2 recorded spellings. Toby is the more common one — 234 births in 2025 against 31 for Tobi.
- How popular is the name Tobi in 2025?
- Tobi ranks #3583 among US boy names in 2025, with 31 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tobi?
- About 1 in every 55,099 US boys born in 2025 was named Tobi — 31 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tobi with classmates?
- Tobi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tobi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Geoffrey#3583 · Robinson#3583 · Kimani#3583 · Emre#3583 · Yoan#3583 · Anirudh#3583 · Sutter#3583 · Heber#3583
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tobi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tobi 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