Toviyah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is good".
Name Census estimates that about 17 living Americans carry the first name Toviyah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Toviyah today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Toviyah births was 2022 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Toviyah. 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 Toviyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Toviyah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
17
~ 1 in 20,162,020 Americans
Peak year
2022
7 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,743
Tracked since 2016
Gender
Gender distribution for Toviyah
Toviyah is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 17 total registrations, 12 (70.6%) were male and 5 (29.4%) were female.
Toviyah as a male name
- Ranked #10,743 in 2022
- 7 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (7 births)
Toviyah as a female name
- Ranked #17,761 in 2019
- 5 female births in 2019
- Peak: 2019 (5 births)
Popularity
Toviyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Toviyah from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 10 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Toviyah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Toviyah 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 Toviyah 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 Toviyah
The name Toviyah is of Hebrew origin, derived from the biblical name Tobiah, meaning "God is good" or "The Lord is good." This name can be traced back to the 5th century BC and is found in the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible.
The name Toviyah is a variation of the Hebrew name Tobiah, which was borne by several individuals mentioned in the Bible. One notable figure was Tobiah, a Jewish leader who lived during the time of the Persian Empire and played a significant role in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah.
Historically, the name Toviyah has been used by Jewish communities across the Middle East and Europe. It gained popularity among Sephardic Jews, who were expelled from Spain and Portugal during the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century and settled in various parts of the Mediterranean region, including North Africa, the Balkans, and the Ottoman Empire.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Toviyah can be found in the writings of the 12th-century Jewish philosopher and theologian, Moses Maimonides, who mentions a scholar named Toviyah ben Eliezer in his work "Mishneh Torah."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Toviyah. Among them is Toviyah ben Eliezer (12th century), a prominent Jewish scholar and philosopher from Spain. Another is Toviyah Cohen (1652-1729), a Dutch-Jewish philosopher and theologian known for his work on Jewish law and ethics.
In the 19th century, Toviyah Getz (1824-1891) was a renowned Hungarian rabbi and scholar, known for his contributions to the study of Jewish law and tradition. Toviyah Basan (1863-1925), an influential rabbi and educator from Palestine, played a significant role in the revival of Hebrew education and culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Another notable figure was Toviyah Friedman (1933-2011), a Holocaust survivor and author who documented his experiences in several books, including "The Hunter" and "The Survivor." Friedman's powerful accounts shed light on the horrors of the Holocaust and the resilience of the human spirit.
People
Toviyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Toviyah 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
Toviyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Toviyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Toviyah 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 20,162,020 US residents.
Is Toviyah a common name?
We classify Toviyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 37.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Toviyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Toviyah was 2022, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Toviyah is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Toviyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Toviyah a male name?
Yes, 70.6% of people registered as Toviyah 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 Toviyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Toviyah 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 Toviyah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Toviyah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.