Tobia
A Hebrew baby boy's name meaning "goodness of God".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Tobia. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tobia today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tobia births was 1991 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tobia. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Tobia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tobia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1991
5 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
1991 SSA rank
#9,513
Tracked since 1991
Census
Tobia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 239 people with the first name Tobia, which placed it at #34,236 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#34,236
National first-name rank
People counted
239
239 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tobia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tobia is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Black (23.4%) and Hispanic (12.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Tobia described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Tobia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.9% · 136
- Black or African American23.4% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino12.1% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 7
- Two or more races1.7% · 4
Popularity
Tobia: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Tobia by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Tobia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Tobia
The name Tobia is derived from the Hebrew name Tobiah, which means "God is good" or "the goodness of God." It has its origins in the Old Testament of the Bible, where it appears as the name of one of the Levites who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile.
The name gained popularity during the biblical period and was commonly used among Jewish communities in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. It can be found in various ancient texts, including the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Tobia is from the Apocryphal book of Tobit, which dates back to the 3rd century BC. In this book, Tobia is the son of Tobit, a righteous man who lived in Nineveh during the Assyrian captivity of the Israelites.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Tobia. One of the most famous was Tobia ben Eliezer, a Jewish scholar and physician who lived in the 11th century AD and was a pioneer in the field of ophthalmology. He wrote several influential medical treatises and is considered one of the founders of modern ophthalmology.
Another notable Tobia was Tobia Rouf, a 16th-century Italian painter and architect who was active in Bologna and Rome. He is best known for his decorative frescoes and architectural works, including the Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati.
In the 17th century, Tobia Nicodemo was an Italian sculptor and architect who worked primarily in Naples. He is renowned for his baroque-style sculptures and architectural designs, including the Church of Santa Maria della Salute in Naples.
Tobia Michael, born in 1592, was a German composer and organist who served as the Kapellmeister (music director) at the court of the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He composed various sacred and secular works, including motets and instrumental pieces.
Finally, Tobia Matthay, born in 1858, was an English pianist, composer, and influential music educator. He developed the "Matthay System" of piano technique, which emphasized the use of arm weight and relaxation, and his teachings had a significant impact on piano pedagogy in the 20th century.
People
Tobia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tobia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tobia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tobia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tobia going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Tobia a common name?
We classify Tobia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tobia most popular?
The single biggest year for Tobia was 1991, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tobia is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tobia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 239 people with the name Tobia, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,236 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Tobia in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Tobia?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tobia on both sides of the split. Of the 244 people counted with this name, 156 were male (63.9%) and 88 were female (36.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Tobia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tobia is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Black (23.4%) and Hispanic (12.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Tobia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tobia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.9% (136 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Tobia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tobia a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tobia in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Tobia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tobia in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Tobia can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Tobia?
See how many Americans are named Tobia on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.