Tobiah
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "The Lord is good".
Name Census estimates that about 649 living Americans carry the first name Tobiah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tobiah today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tobiah births was 2016 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tobiah. 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.
People living today
649
~ 1 in 528,127 Americans
Peak year
2016
39 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,128
Tracked since 1971
Popularity
Tobiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tobiah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 243 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tobiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tobiah 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 Tobiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tobiahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tobiah
The name Tobiah has its origins in the Hebrew language and is derived from the word "Tov," meaning "good," and "Yah," a shortened form of the Hebrew name for God, Yahweh. This combination results in the meaning "God is good" or "Goodness of God."
The earliest recorded use of the name Tobiah can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically in the Book of Nehemiah and the apocryphal Book of Tobit. In the Book of Nehemiah, Tobiah is mentioned as an Ammonite official who opposed the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. The Book of Tobit, on the other hand, features Tobiah (or Tobit) as the central character, a pious and righteous man who goes blind but is eventually healed through divine intervention.
The name Tobiah appears to have been prevalent among Jewish communities during ancient times. One notable individual bearing this name was Tobiah ben Eliezer, a Jewish scholar who lived in the 11th century and wrote several important works on Hebrew grammar and biblical exegesis.
Moving forward in history, the name Tobiah was also used by some Christian communities, particularly in English-speaking countries. One of the earliest known English bearers of the name was Tobiah Matthew, an English Protestant scholar and Bible translator who lived from around 1546 to 1628.
Another notable figure with the name Tobiah was Tobiah Smollett, a Scottish novelist and playwright born in 1721. He is best known for his picaresque novels, including "The Adventures of Roderick Random" and "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker."
In the 19th century, Tobiah Pitt was a prominent American Quaker and abolitionist who worked tirelessly to end slavery. He was born in 1773 and lived until 1857.
The name Tobiah also has a connection to the arts, with Tobiah Smollett, a British painter and engraver who lived from 1766 to 1843, being one of the notable bearers of the name during this period.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Tobiah, each contributing to the rich tapestry of its usage and significance across various cultures and time periods.
People
Tobiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tobiah 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
Tobiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tobiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 649 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tobiah 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 528,127 US residents.
Is Tobiah a common name?
We classify Tobiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 662 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tobiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Tobiah was 2016, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tobiah is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tobiah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tobiah 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.
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.