Tovi
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "my good".
Name Census estimates that about 94 living Americans carry the first name Tovi. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Tovi today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tovi births was 2023 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tovi. 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 Tovi. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
94
~ 1 in 3,646,323 Americans
Peak year
2023
18 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,474
Tracked since 2004
Gender
Gender distribution for Tovi
Tovi is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 95 total registrations, 52 (54.7%) were male and 43 (45.3%) were female.
Tovi as a male name
- Ranked #12,101 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2010 (8 births)
Tovi as a female name
- Ranked #9,474 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (12 births)
Popularity
Tovi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tovi from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 44 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
Tovi 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 Tovi 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 Tovi
The name Tovi has its origins in the Hebrew language and Jewish culture, dating back to ancient times. It is a diminutive form of the Hebrew name Toviah, which means "God is good." The name Toviah itself is derived from the Hebrew word "tov," meaning "good."
In the biblical Book of Ezra, a man named Toviah is mentioned as one of the leaders who returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity in the 5th century BCE. This is one of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tovi appearing in historical records.
Tovi was also the name of a Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in the 11th century CE. He was born in Lucena, Spain, and is known for his work on the rationalization of Jewish law and his commentaries on various Jewish texts.
Another notable figure in history named Tovi was a 13th-century Persian poet and mystic from Hamadan, Iran. He is known for his lyrical poetry and his contributions to the Sufi tradition.
In the 16th century, there was a Jewish scholar named Tovi ben Moshe who lived in Safed, Palestine. He was a renowned Kabbalist and wrote several works on Jewish mysticism.
More recently, in the 20th century, Tovi Litvin was an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) from 1949 to 1965. He was born in 1900 and played an important role in the early years of the State of Israel.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Tovi. While it has Hebrew origins, the name has been used by people of various cultural backgrounds, particularly in Jewish communities around the world.
People
Tovi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tovi 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
Tovi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tovi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 94 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tovi 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 3,646,323 US residents.
Is Tovi a common name?
We classify Tovi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 95 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tovi most popular?
The single biggest year for Tovi was 2023, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tovi is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tovi a male name?
Yes, 54.7% of people registered as Tovi 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.