Tolbert
Masculine
Tolbert is a surname used as a first name, and it is almost certainly a spelling of Talbot with a Germanic ending attached. The first syllable is also a Scottish word for a building that did three jobs at once.
How old is the name Tolbert?
Tolbert first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Tolbert alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 200 people named Tolbert are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tolbert most popular?
Tolbert peaked in 1885, reaching #641 nationally. See the whole 1885 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Tolbert
Every Scottish burgh of any size had a tolbooth, and the name is literal: it began as the place where tolls and market dues were collected. It then acquired the rest of local government. The tolbooth was the council chamber, the courtroom, the weighing house and the jail, usually with the cells at the bottom and the meeting room above, and often with a clock and a spire on top because it was the most important secular building in town. A good many survive, and they look like small town halls with disconcertingly narrow windows at ground level. Tolbert has no documented connection to the word. But the first syllable is a real one, and it names the place where a Scottish town kept its money, its records and its prisoners.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Talbot is the likely parent and its own origin is argued over. The second element looks like the Germanic berht, bright, which closes Albert and Robert, but whether it belongs here or was added by analogy is not documented.
Pronouncing Tolbert
TOL-burt
Two syllables with the stress in front. In quick American speech Talbert and Tolbert are indistinguishable, which is how the two spellings came to sit side by side in the record.
Nicknames for Tolbert
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
- 1881
- Most boys named
- 192322 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #641reached in 1885
- Change vs 1979
- 0.0%6 in 1987, 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.
Tolberts among us
people named Tolbert 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
Tolbert 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
- Bert is available as a short form and is shared with several long-established names.
- It is read correctly at first sight and rarely needs spelling twice.
- It sits in the large family of -bert names that English has used since the Norman period.
- Talbert and Talbot are both in the record, so the spelling will be checked back with you often.
- It reads as a surname to most listeners, which suits some families and not others.
- No origin is documented, so the meaning question has nothing settled to answer with.
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Tolbert
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Tolberts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Tolbert are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tolbert in 2025?
- Tolbert is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Tolbert with classmates?
- Tolbert 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 Tolbert? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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