Tobe
Tobe was last recorded in 2022, when 6 babies were given it; 978 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2022 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tobe by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Tobe mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Tobe is “a male given name, diminutive of Toby.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Tobe?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #12,168, in 2022; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
20 babies in 1916, the peak
Tobe peaked in 1916, when 20 boys were given it, #1,639 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6 | #12,168 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 5 | #13,888 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 5 | #13,860 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 8 | #9,572 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #12,139 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 6 | #12,130 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 7 | #10,857 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 5 | #14,198 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 8 | #9,489 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 6 | #11,333 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (103)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 8 | #8,839 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 8 | #8,552 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 8 | #8,371 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 7 | #8,623 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 8 | #7,214 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 7 | #5,436 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 5 | #7,288 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 7 | #5,431 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 6 | #6,171 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 7 | #5,317 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 11 | #3,594 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 11 | #3,584 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 10 | #3,698 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 9 | #3,924 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 13 | #2,929 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,432 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 10 | #3,343 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 10 | #3,264 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 11 | #2,723 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 8 | #3,215 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 8 | #3,228 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,895 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 8 | #3,263 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,612 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 9 | #3,055 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 5 | #4,466 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 12 | #2,481 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,791 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 7 | #3,345 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 5 | #4,210 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,297 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 11 | #2,445 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 6 | #3,699 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 7 | #3,142 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 9 | #2,564 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 6 | #3,400 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,208 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,189 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 8 | #2,855 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 5 | #3,898 | under 0.01 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,433 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,923 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,250 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 9 | #2,826 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,275 | under 0.01 |
| 1930 | 16 | #1,954 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 15 | #2,088 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,330 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 7 | #3,747 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,772 | under 0.01 |
| 1925 | 10 | #2,915 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 11 | #2,808 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 16 | #2,113 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 16 | #2,133 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 10 | #2,970 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 10 | #2,942 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 19 | #1,803 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 19 | #1,817 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,528 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 20 | #1,639 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 11 | #2,440 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 10 | #2,253 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 17 | #1,308 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,517 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,522 | 0.03 |
| 1910 | 16 | #780 | 0.08 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,265 | 0.04 |
| 1908 | 6 | #1,358 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 8 | #1,084 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 11 | #730 | 0.09 |
| 1902 | 9 | #854 | 0.07 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,048 | 0.06 |
| 1900 | 11 | #832 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 6 | #1,043 | 0.06 |
| 1898 | 10 | #738 | 0.08 |
| 1897 | 10 | #719 | 0.09 |
| 1896 | 8 | #890 | 0.07 |
| 1895 | 9 | #789 | 0.08 |
| 1894 | 12 | #625 | 0.10 |
| 1893 | 10 | #702 | 0.09 |
| 1892 | 10 | #744 | 0.08 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,113 | 0.05 |
| 1890 | 11 | #627 | 0.10 |
| 1889 | 11 | #624 | 0.10 |
| 1888 | 16 | #500 | 0.13 |
| 1887 | 9 | #676 | 0.09 |
| 1886 | 9 | #689 | 0.08 |
| 1885 | 10 | #637 | 0.09 |
| 1884 | 8 | #752 | 0.07 |
| 1883 | 10 | #640 | 0.10 |
| 1882 | 17 | #448 | 0.15 |
| 1881 | 16 | #440 | 0.16 |
| 1880 | 15 | #479 | 0.14 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Tobe a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 978 Americans recorded as Tobe, 3% are girls and 97% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Tobe: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tobe, and how old are they?
An estimated 335 Americans named Tobe and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (34% of everyone recorded); the median is 51 years old and half are between 24 and 62. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 533 people named Tobe (135 women and girls, 398 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 354 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 47,061 babies since 1880, Tobe is the third most given (2.1% of them). In 2025 none of their 343 babies recorded by SSA was a Tobe (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Tobe
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Tobe and names like it
- Compare Tobe and TobyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sTobe peaked in 1916.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tobe since 1910.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Tobe.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Tobe alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with TMost given first.