Find out how popular the last name Tobin is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Tobin.

Tobin, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Tobin surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tobin in America

Tobin is the 1896th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tobin surname appeared 18,932 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Tobin.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tobin to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Tobin

The surname TOBIN is of Irish origin and can be traced back to the medieval Gaelic Ó Tobín, meaning "descendant of Tobin". Tobin itself is a diminutive of the Irish personal name Tóibín, derived from the Old Irish tóeb, meaning "side" or "flank".

The name first emerged in County Wicklow, where the family held lands and prominence from ancient times. Early spelling variations of the name include O'Tubin, O'Tubyn, Tubbin, Tubbyn, and Tobyn. Some of the earliest records mentioning the name can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history compiled in the 17th century.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Tadhg Ó Tobín, a prominent Irish cleric who lived in the 14th century and served as the Bishop of Aghadoe in County Kerry. In the 16th century, the name appears in the Annals of the Four Masters in connection with the battle of Glenmalure in 1580, where a member of the Tobin family fought against English forces.

During the Plantation of Ulster in the early 17th century, many TOBIN families were displaced from their ancestral lands and resettled in various parts of Ireland. Some notable individuals bearing the surname include James Tobin (1918-2002), an American economist who received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1981, and Pat Tobin (1937-2008), an Irish singer and songwriter known for her contributions to traditional Irish music.

Other notable bearers of the TOBIN surname include John Tobin (1770-1804), an English dramatist and author; James Joseph Tobin (1806-1870), an Irish-American Catholic priest and journalist; and Patrick Tobin (1855-1938), an Australian politician who served as a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

The TOBIN surname has a rich history rooted in Irish heritage, with bearers of the name making significant contributions in various fields throughout the centuries, from religion and politics to literature and academia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tobin

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Tobin.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Tobin was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Tobin has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Tobin was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Tobin, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!