Tove
A Scandinavian name of Old Norse origin meaning "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 243 living Americans carry the first name Tove. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tove today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tove births was 2023 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tove. 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 Tove with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
243
~ 1 in 1,410,512 Americans
Peak year
2023
20 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,891
Tracked since 1930
Census
Tove in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 491 people with the first name Tove, which placed it at #20,884 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
#20,884
National first-name rank
People counted
491
491 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tove
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tove is White at 90.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Tove 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 Tove at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.0% · 442
- Two or more races4.9% · 24
- Black or African American3.3% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 9
Popularity
Tove: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tove from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 81 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tove 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 Tove 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 Tove
The name Tove has its roots in Scandinavia, particularly in the Old Norse language. It is derived from the Old Norse word "tófa," which means "tuft" or "clump of grass." In the Old Norse culture, names often drew inspiration from nature, and Tove was likely originally used as a nickname or descriptive name related to the natural world.
Tove gained popularity as a given name in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of literary works from the 13th century that provide insights into the culture and history of medieval Iceland and Norway.
During the Viking Age, the name Tove was not uncommon among Scandinavian women. It is believed that some notable Viking women may have borne this name, though historical records from that period are scarce and often incomplete.
In the 16th century, Tove Galt, a Norwegian noblewoman, was a prominent figure in Norwegian history. She played a significant role in the Reformation in Norway and is known for her support of the Protestant movement.
Another historical figure named Tove was Tove Ditlevsen, a Danish author and poet who lived from 1917 to 1976. She is considered one of the most influential Danish writers of the 20th century and is renowned for her autobiographical works that explored themes of love, loneliness, and mental illness.
In the realm of art, Tove Jansson, a Finnish novelist, painter, and illustrator, gained international recognition for creating the beloved Moomin characters and stories. She lived from 1914 to 2001 and is regarded as one of Finland's most celebrated artists and writers.
Tove Maes, a Belgian singer and songwriter born in 1975, has also gained prominence in the music industry. She has released several successful albums and is known for her unique blend of pop and folk music.
While the name Tove has maintained its roots in Scandinavia, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in countries with strong cultural ties to the Nordic regions.
People
Tove + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tove 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
Tove: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tove?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 243 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tove 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 1,410,512 US residents.
Is Tove a common name?
We classify Tove as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 262 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tove most popular?
The single biggest year for Tove was 2023, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tove is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tove in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 491 people with the name Tove, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,884 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 Tove 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 Tove?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tove leans strongly female. 469 people counted with this name were female (94.9%), compared with 25 male bearers (5.1%). 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 Tove?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tove is White at 90.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Black (3.3%). 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 Tove most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tove in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.0% (442 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 Tove in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tove a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tove 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 Tove still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tove 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 Tove 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 common is the name Tove?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.