Tobias
Top 1000
About Tobias
Tobias is one of a number of s-ending boys' names that are riding a wave of popularity. With its Old Testament-Dickensian feel, it's a name with a distinguished pedigree.
Tobias is the Greek form of the Hebrew Tobiah, which was derived from the name Toviyah. Toviyah was created from the elements tov, meaning "good" and yah, representing the Hebrew God. Tobias is the name of several biblical figures but is primarily associated with the story of Tobias and the Angel.
A contemporary bearer is Tobias Wolff, author of A Boy's Life. Tobias Smollett was a major eighteenth century Scottish novelist. Tobias Snape, meanwhile, is a Harry Potter character.
The short form Toby has a life of its own, used independently at least as far back as Shakespeare's time, with Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night. Toby also was the name of a character on The West Wing. Actor Tobey Maguire was born Tobias and named his son Otis Tobias.
There is also the rarely used but still viable daddy of them all --Tobiah, the name of a rebel Hebrew king
Pronounced toh-BY-us.
As of October 2026, Tobias ranked #283 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #246 in 2016, Nameberry popularity #194.
Editor's take: The name Tobias is a boy's name of Hebrew, Greek origin meaning "God is good".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #418 | 742 | 386.3 |
| 2015 | #316 | 1,123 | 585.9 |
| 2016 | #246 | 1,523 | 802.5 |
| 2017 | #269 | 1,343 | 725.6 |
| 2018 | #273 | 1,294 | 712.5 |
| 2019 | #272 | 1,318 | 734.6 |
| 2020 | #263 | 1,292 | 748.5 |
| 2021 | #276 | 1,243 | 710.5 |
| 2022 | #276 | 1,260 | 721.6 |
| 2023 | #279 | 1,220 | 713.2 |
| 2024 | #280 | 1,210 | 702.3 |
| 2025 | #283 | 1,201 | 703.1 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Tobias.
- Julian
- Leon
- Vincent
- Ezekiel
- Gideon
- Adrian
- Elias
- Raphael
- Malachi
- Gabriel
- Sebastian
- Abel
- Tristan
- Cedric
- Hayato
- Augustus
- Xavier
- Jonah
- Roman
- Josiah
Tobias on lists
Famous Tobiass
- Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff
American novelist
- Tobias George Smollett
Scottish novelist and poet
- Tobias Vincent "Tobey" Maguire
American actor
- Tobias John Harris
American basketball player
- Tobias Matthew
English Archbishop of York
- Tobias Kamke
German tennis player
- Tobias Michel Karel Asser
Dutch lawyer, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
- Tobias Furneaux
English navigator
- (Glenn) Tobias Hysén
Swedish footballer
- Tobias "Theo" Leendert Bamberg
Dutch magician
- Tobias Menzes
English actor
- Tobias Moretti
Austrian actor
- Tobias Joseph "Toby" Turner aka Tobuscus
American YouTuber
- Tobias MacDonald Jesso Jr.
Canadian musician
- Tobias Söderberg (b. 2010)
son of biathlete Uschi Disl and Tomas Söderberg
- Tobias Del Piero (b. 2010)
son of footballer Alessandro Del Piero
- Tobias Dirks (b. 2015)
son of surfer Bethany Hamilton
- Otis Tobias Maguire
son of American actor Tobey Maguire
- Tobias Forge
frontman of Swedish heavy metal band Ghost
Tobias in pop culture
- Tobias Wilson
fictional character on the animated show "The Amazing World of Gumball"
- Tobias Fornell
FBI agent that helps with cases on "NCIS"; Gibbs' friend
- Tobias "Four" Eaton
character in the Divergent trilogy
- Tobias Funke
character on TV's "Arrested Development"
- Tobias "Toby" Ziegler
character on TV's "The West Wing"
- Tobias Ragg
character in musical "Sweeney Todd"
- Tobias
character in the Animorphs books by K. A. Applegate
- Tobias Hankel
character on TV's "Criminal Minds"
- Tobias (Toby)
Dancing Through the Snow
- Tobias Beecher
a character on TV's "Oz"
- Tobias "Toby" Isaacs
character on TV's "Degrassi: The Next Generation"
- Tobias Snape
Severus Snape's father in the Harry Potter series
- Tobias
character in the Main Street Series
- Tobias "Toby" Kennish
character on TV's "Switched at Birth"
- Tobias Herondale
mentioned in "The Lost Herondale" by Cassandra Clare
- Tobias Church
character on The CW's "Arrow"
- Tobias "Toby" Domzalski
character in the Netflix series "Trollhunters"
- Tobias Beckett
character in the 2018 Star Wars Film "Solo: A Star Wars Story" Tobias Beckett was portrayed by Woody Harrelson
- "A Pleasant Ballad of Tobias"
17th century Broadside Ballad