Tobie
Masculine · “God is good”
Tobie is given to both — 931 boys and 1,390 girls since 1880. See Tobie as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Tobie is a short form that both sexes have used for centuries, and the name behind it comes out of a book that half the Bibles in the world contain and the other half do not — a story with an angel in disguise, a journey, a fish and a dog.
How old is the name Tobie?
Tobie first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Tobie alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 700 people named Tobie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tobie most popular?
Tobie peaked in 1904, reaching #874 nationally. See the whole 1904 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Tobiyah to Tobie
The story of Tobie
The Book of Tobit is a domestic adventure story rather than a work of law or prophecy, which is part of why it has always been loved by painters. A young man called Tobias is sent on a journey to collect a debt; a stranger offers to guide him and turns out to be the archangel Raphael; a fish nearly takes his foot in a river and is caught, and its gall later cures his father's blindness. And the family dog goes with them, and comes home with them — the only dog in the whole of scripture that anybody is pleased to see. Artists have been painting that dog for five hundred years. In English the name gave a household word too: a Toby jug is a pottery mug shaped like a stout seated man in a three-cornered hat, and nobody has ever established which man.
Meaning
God is good
The Hebrew behind Tobias and Tobit is tov, good, joined to the divine name: God is good. The reading is not disputed. The short form carries it unchanged, whichever sex is using it.
How the name formed
- Tobiyah
- Tobias
- Toby
- Tobie
Related forms: Tobias · Tobia · Tobie
Pronouncing Tobie
TOH-bee
Two syllables, stress at the front. Identical to Toby; the -ie ending is a written choice and nothing more.
Nicknames for Tobie
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 197522 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #874reached in 1904
- Change vs 2021
- −28.6%5 in 2023, from 7
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.
Tobie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tobias in German — related form
- Tobia in Italian — related form
- Tobie in French — same name
Tobies among us
people named Tobie are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Tobie sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, short and unreservedly warm.
- It works for a child and an adult without adjustment, which short forms often do not.
- It has a real long form available, Tobias, for anyone who wants one.
- Toby is the spelling most people know, and this one will be corrected toward it.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes, with the girls holding most of it now and the boys most of the older record.
- It reads as a nickname, so she may be asked what it is short for.
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What they receive
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Tobie
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Tobies 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 Tobie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tobie in 2025?
- Tobie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Tobie with classmates?
- Tobie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Thomas#34 · Timothy#203 · Tyler#219 · Terry#1115 · Theodore#4 · Travis#434 · Todd#1609 · Tony#783
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tobie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tobie and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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