Tobey
Tobey was given to 8 boys in 2025, #9,615 among boys’ names; 2,456 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,170 Americans named Tobey and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 46 years old and half are between 22 and 55.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Tobey by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Tobey?
#9,615 among boys’ names, 2025
Tobey fell from #4,283 in 2015 to #9,615 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 12.5 to 4.7 per million.
106 babies in 1975, the peak
Tobey peaked in 1975, when 106 babies were given it (53 boys, #1,167 among boys’ names). The 8 births of 2025 are 8% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | under 5 | 8 | #9,615 | |
| 2024 | under 5 | 9 | #8,916 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 6 | #12,102 | |
| 2022 | under 5 | 14 | #6,438 | |
| 2021 | under 5 | 10 | #8,099 | |
| 2020 | under 5 | 12 | #6,989 | |
| 2018 | under 5 | 10 | #8,093 | |
| 2017 | under 5 | 12 | #7,055 | |
| 2016 | under 5 | 13 | #6,684 | |
| 2015 | under 5 | 24 | #4,283 |
Every recorded year (93)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | under 5 | 25 | #4,117 | |
| 2013 | under 5 | 21 | #4,601 | |
| 2012 | under 5 | 26 | #3,991 | |
| 2011 | under 5 | 28 | #3,780 | |
| 2010 | under 5 | 37 | #3,121 | |
| 2009 | under 5 | 44 | #2,795 | |
| 2008 | under 5 | 39 | #3,052 | |
| 2007 | under 5 | 46 | #2,680 | |
| 2006 | under 5 | 41 | #2,823 | |
| 2005 | 5 | #18,980 | 68 | #1,881 |
| 2004 | under 5 | 77 | #1,683 | |
| 2003 | under 5 | 85 | #1,525 | |
| 2002 | under 5 | 50 | #2,145 | |
| 2001 | under 5 | 24 | #3,605 | |
| 2000 | under 5 | 21 | #3,897 | |
| 1999 | under 5 | 13 | #5,286 | |
| 1998 | under 5 | 13 | #5,131 | |
| 1997 | under 5 | 10 | #6,045 | |
| 1996 | 6 | #13,398 | 8 | #7,064 |
| 1995 | 7 | #11,697 | 10 | #5,877 |
| 1994 | under 5 | 13 | #4,761 | |
| 1993 | 6 | #13,323 | 9 | #6,175 |
| 1992 | 5 | #15,437 | 14 | #4,301 |
| 1991 | under 5 | 11 | #5,059 | |
| 1990 | 5 | #15,103 | 11 | #4,955 |
| 1989 | 6 | #12,265 | 9 | #5,556 |
| 1988 | 10 | #7,640 | 14 | #3,683 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,719 | 14 | #3,490 |
| 1986 | 7 | #9,468 | 8 | #5,286 |
| 1985 | 7 | #9,234 | 14 | #3,379 |
| 1984 | 5 | #12,062 | 11 | #3,903 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,957 | 12 | #3,616 |
| 1982 | 5 | #12,196 | 8 | #4,957 |
| 1981 | 8 | #8,087 | 25 | #2,133 |
| 1980 | 16 | #4,729 | 29 | #1,960 |
| 1979 | 11 | #6,153 | 21 | #2,368 |
| 1978 | 21 | #3,627 | 35 | #1,615 |
| 1977 | 23 | #3,361 | 34 | #1,642 |
| 1976 | 21 | #3,397 | 51 | #1,222 |
| 1975 | 53 | #1,776 | 53 | #1,167 |
| 1974 | 47 | #1,876 | 49 | #1,195 |
| 1973 | 37 | #2,166 | 39 | #1,351 |
| 1972 | 32 | #2,350 | 38 | #1,389 |
| 1971 | 22 | #3,152 | 32 | #1,553 |
| 1970 | 26 | #2,776 | 23 | #1,885 |
| 1969 | 16 | #3,607 | 20 | #1,908 |
| 1968 | 21 | #2,869 | 21 | #1,780 |
| 1967 | 9 | #4,948 | 14 | #2,238 |
| 1966 | 13 | #3,726 | 14 | #2,207 |
| 1965 | 19 | #2,924 | 15 | #2,165 |
| 1964 | 26 | #2,467 | 15 | #2,198 |
| 1963 | 19 | #2,950 | 20 | #1,836 |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,811 | 6 | #4,007 |
| 1961 | under 5 | 9 | #3,077 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 16 | #2,111 | |
| 1959 | 10 | #4,276 | 13 | #2,401 |
| 1958 | 9 | #4,490 | 20 | #1,833 |
| 1957 | 10 | #4,185 | 14 | #2,270 |
| 1956 | 10 | #4,146 | 15 | #2,161 |
| 1955 | 10 | #4,039 | 8 | #3,183 |
| 1954 | 11 | #3,698 | 5 | #4,320 |
| 1953 | 11 | #3,667 | 8 | #3,124 |
| 1952 | 13 | #3,181 | 6 | #3,701 |
| 1951 | under 5 | 9 | #2,832 | |
| 1950 | 8 | #4,285 | 5 | #4,150 |
| 1949 | 12 | #3,163 | 9 | #2,787 |
| 1948 | 12 | #3,123 | 9 | #2,768 |
| 1947 | 12 | #3,213 | 10 | #2,657 |
| 1946 | 5 | #5,634 | 5 | #3,971 |
| 1945 | 8 | #3,655 | 5 | #3,736 |
| 1944 | 9 | #3,354 | 7 | #3,083 |
| 1943 | 10 | #3,227 | 9 | #2,718 |
| 1942 | 8 | #3,710 | 5 | #3,995 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,925 | under 5 | |
| 1940 | 6 | #4,298 | under 5 | |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,887 | under 5 | |
| 1938 | 5 | #4,939 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | 8 | #3,409 | under 5 | |
| 1928 | 6 | #4,676 | under 5 | |
| 1924 | under 5 | 5 | #4,896 | |
| 1921 | 6 | #5,043 | under 5 | |
| 1916 | 5 | #5,085 | under 5 | |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,565 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Tobey a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,456 Americans recorded as Tobey, 31% are girls and 69% boys. In 2025 it went to 8 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Tobey: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Tobey, and how old are they?
2,170 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 2,456 Americans ever recorded as Tobey. The median Tobey alive today is 46 years old; half are between 22 and 55.
The 2020 Census counted 2,076 people named Tobey (717 women and girls, 1,359 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,188 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 41 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 283 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 795 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 270 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 617 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 163 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
How common is the spelling Tobey?
Tobey is a less common spelling of Toby: SSA has recorded 2,456 Tobey and 43,233 Toby since 1880.
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 47,061 babies since 1880, Tobey is the second most given (5.2% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8 of their 343 babies (2.3%), again the second most given.
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 Tobey
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1910-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Toby | 43,233 |
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 Tobey and names like it
- Compare Tobey and TobyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sTobey peaked in 1975.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Tobey since 1910.
- The top names of 1975The year the most babies were named Tobey.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Tobey alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with TMost given first.