Toliver
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "peaceable wolf".
Name Census estimates that about 33 living Americans carry the first name Toliver. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Toliver today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Toliver births was 1947 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Toliver. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Toliver. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
33
~ 1 in 10,386,495 Americans
Peak year
1947
6 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,006
Tracked since 1924
Census
Toliver in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 148 people with the first name Toliver, which placed it at #45,698 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
#45,698
National first-name rank
People counted
148
148 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Toliver
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Toliver is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (31.8%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Toliver 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 Toliver at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.4% · 85
- Black or African American31.8% · 47
- Two or more races6.8% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 2
Popularity
Toliver: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Toliver from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 10 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Toliver remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Toliver 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 Toliver during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Toliver
The name Toliver has its origins in the Old English language, tracing back to the Anglo-Saxon period from the 5th to the 11th centuries. It is believed to be a compound name derived from the Old English words "tol," meaning tax or tribute, and "here," meaning army or warrior. The name was likely bestowed upon individuals who collected taxes for the military or were warriors themselves.
During the Middle Ages, the name Toliver was predominantly found in England and the surrounding regions where Old English was spoken. It is possible that the name appeared in ancient texts or historical records from that era, although specific references are not readily available.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Toliver dates back to the 13th century. In 1265, a man named Toliver de Leyburn was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, which were administrative records of the English Crown. This suggests that the name was in use among the Anglo-Norman nobility during that period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Toliver. One such figure was Toliver Dickinson (1613-1688), an English Puritan clergyman who served as the rector of St. Andrew's Church in Hertford, England. He was known for his religious writings and sermons.
Another prominent Toliver was Toliver Hetherington (1767-1849), a Scottish minister and author who wrote several theological works, including "The Apologetic of the Christian Faith" and "The History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines."
In the United States, Toliver Stevenson (1820-1892) was a notable figure. He was a lawyer and politician from Illinois who served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives and as a judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Toliver Taliaferro (1841-1920) was a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War. He served as a lieutenant in the 9th Virginia Cavalry Regiment and participated in several major battles, including the Battle of Gettysburg.
Lastly, Toliver Dalton (1878-1942) was a Welsh artist and painter known for his landscape paintings of the Welsh countryside. His works were exhibited at the Royal Academy and other prestigious art galleries in the early 20th century.
These examples illustrate the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments of individuals who have carried the name Toliver throughout history, spanning different eras, regions, and professions.
People
Toliver + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Toliver 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
Toliver: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Toliver?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 33 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Toliver 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 10,386,495 US residents.
Is Toliver a common name?
We classify Toliver as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 46 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Toliver most popular?
The single biggest year for Toliver was 1947, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Toliver is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Toliver in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 148 people with the name Toliver, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,698 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 Toliver 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 Toliver?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Toliver appears almost entirely male. Of the 152 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Toliver?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Toliver is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (31.8%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). 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 Toliver most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Toliver in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (85 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 Toliver in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Toliver a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Toliver 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 Toliver still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Toliver 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 Toliver 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 people are named Toliver?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Toliver at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.