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Tova

Feminine · “good”

1942high 2023
#2607 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare66 girls in 2025

Tova is good in Hebrew — the word God uses six times in the first chapter of Genesis.

How old is the name Tova?

Tova first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Tova alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 2,700 people named Tova are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Tova most popular?

Tova peaked in 1984, reaching #1726 nationally. Today it ranks #2607, 881 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.

Compare this nameMore “T” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Tova

Genesis has God look at each stage of creation and see that it is tov — good — six times, and then very good at the end. Tova is the feminine of that word and a standard modern Israeli name. A separate Norse Tove is a different name entirely. It appears in American records in current use.

Meaning

good

From the Hebrew tov, 'good', in its feminine form tova. Genesis 1 has God see that each act of creation is tov. A separate Scandinavian Tove, from the Norse Þórfríðr, is unrelated and similar in sound. The Hebrew is documented.

How the name formed

  1. tov
  2. tova
  3. Tova

Related forms: טובה · Tova · Toybe

Pronouncing Tova

TOH-vah

Two syllables, stress on the first. Hebrew stresses the last, to-VAH.

Nicknames for Tova

Moderate

ToviAn affectionate stretch, used inside families rather than generally
TovThe root, which is the Hebrew word for good
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1942–202594470946619422025

US babies named Tova per year from 1942 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#17261940s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1942
Most girls named
202394 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1726reached in 1984
Change vs 2023
−29.8%66 in 2025, from 94
Tova sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2023, with 94 girls. 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.

Tova in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • טובה in Hebrew — transliteration
  • Tova in Swedish — related form
  • Toybe in Yiddish — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: New Jersey, New York, California.

Tovas among us

2,700

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

About 1 girl in 24,353 born in 2025 was named Tova

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

Spellings of Tova

#2607
Tova on the 2025 chart
#883
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Tova went to 66 girls in 2025, but Tovah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 77, which makes it the 883rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,724 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 20,874 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 24,353 for Tova 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 Aleatha test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tova's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aleatha climbed just as high around 1906, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aleatha's path sketches the road Tova is walking now.

40%chance Tova will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Tova, aligned on its peakAleatha· peak 1906not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+70 yrsAleatha · #5644Tova today
Tova today is about where Aleatha stood in 1947 — 41 years past a #1727-sized peak. By 1962, Aleatha had settled around #4263.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Tova 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 Tova is headed

19422030

US babies named Tova per year, 1942 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Tova should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.

Steady+3% by 2030projected around #2,682 in 2030

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.

Tova beside its neighbors

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

Tovathis name66#2607Navie66#2607Ellyana66#2607Atalia66#2607Maddox66#2607

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That the word is the one God uses in Genesis 1 is a first-rate anchor.
  • The good meaning is transparent and needs no explanation.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
What to consider
  • The Scandinavian Tove is a separate name that sounds close.
  • Hebrew and English stress it differently.
  • It reads as specifically Jewish.

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Tova

Feminine · #2607 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Tovas are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Tova are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Tova?
Tova is the most-used spelling in US records — 66 of the 77 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Tovah.
How popular is the name Tova in 2025?
Tova ranks #2607 among US girl names in 2025, with 66 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Tova?
About 1 in every 24,353 US girls born in 2025 was named Tova — 66 in all.
Will my child share the name Tova with classmates?
Tova will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Tova

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Navie#2607 · Ellyana#2607 · Atalia#2607 · Maddox#2607 · Henny#2607 · Diane#2607 · Adella#2607 · Delylah#2607

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

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

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