Tovah
A feminine Hebrew name meaning "good", "pleasant", or "favorable".
Name Census estimates that about 626 living Americans carry the first name Tovah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tovah today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tovah births was 1979 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tovah. 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
626
~ 1 in 547,531 Americans
Peak year
1979
37 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,881
Tracked since 1976
Census
Tovah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 588 people with the first name Tovah, which placed it at #18,347 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
#18,347
National first-name rank
People counted
588
588 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tovah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tovah is White at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.7%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Tovah 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 Tovah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.5% · 432
- Black or African American11.7% · 69
- Two or more races7.8% · 46
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Tovah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tovah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 194 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Tovah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tovah 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 Tovah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tovahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tovah
The given name Tovah is a Hebrew name derived from the word "tov," which means "good" or "goodness" in the Hebrew language. The name has its origins in ancient Semitic cultures and can be traced back to the biblical period.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Tovah can be found in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the Book of Esther. In this book, Tovah is mentioned as one of the seven maidens who attended to Queen Esther. This reference dates back to the 5th century BCE, during the reign of the Persian king Xerxes I.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Tovah. One of the earliest was Tovah bat Shlomo, a renowned Jewish scholar who lived in Spain during the 11th century CE. She is remembered for her contributions to the study of Jewish law and her expertise in various fields, including mathematics and astronomy.
In the 14th century, Tovah ben Yosef, a prominent Italian rabbi and scholar, gained recognition for his writings on Jewish law and ethics. His works, including the influential "Torat Ha-Bayit," had a significant impact on subsequent generations of Jewish scholars.
Moving forward in time, Tovah Feldshuh (born 1952) is a contemporary American actress and singer. She has received critical acclaim for her performances on stage and screen, including her portrayal of Golda Meir in the one-woman play "Golda's Balcony," for which she was nominated for a Tony Award.
Another notable bearer of the name is Tovah Ringen (born 1976), an American mathematician and professor at the University of Oregon. She has made significant contributions to the field of algebraic geometry and has been recognized for her work in bridging the gap between pure and applied mathematics.
Tovah Lazaroff (born 1967) is an Israeli journalist and author who has covered Middle Eastern affairs for several publications, including The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel. Her work has shed light on the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has been widely recognized for its objective and balanced reporting.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Tovah throughout history, each making their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human endeavor.
People
Tovah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tovah 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
Tovah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tovah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 626 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tovah 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 547,531 US residents.
Is Tovah a common name?
We classify Tovah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 649 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tovah most popular?
The single biggest year for Tovah was 1979, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tovah is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tovah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 588 people with the name Tovah, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,347 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 Tovah 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 Tovah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tovah appears almost entirely female. Of the 589 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Tovah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tovah is White at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.7%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Tovah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tovah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.5% (432 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 Tovah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tovah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tovah in the SSA data are female. 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 Tovah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tovah 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 Tovah 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 have the name Tovah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.