Toby
Top 1000
About Toby
Sweet and spirited, kindly and handsome, posh and approachable, Toby is a versatile nickname, popular in the UK as a stand-alone choice, but familiar in the Netherlands and New Zealand too. In the US, it had its heyday in the 70s but has since been outranked by long form Tobias.
Derived from the Hebrew Tobiah, meaning "God is good" (or more specifically, "Yahwah is good"), it has appeared in everything from Shakespeare and Dickens to The Office and Gravity Falls.
Pronounced TOH-bee.
As of October 2026, Toby ranked #979 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #190 in 1975, Nameberry popularity #435.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #605 | 446 | 232.2 |
| 2015 | #682 | 371 | 193.6 |
| 2016 | #768 | 316 | 166.5 |
| 2017 | #806 | 284 | 153.4 |
| 2018 | #826 | 271 | 149.2 |
| 2019 | #954 | 225 | 125.4 |
| 2020 | #1,139 | 172 | 99.6 |
| 2021 | #1,094 | 192 | 109.7 |
| 2022 | #1,165 | 177 | 101.4 |
| 2023 | #1,241 | 158 | 92.4 |
| 2024 | #1,104 | 194 | 112.6 |
| 2025 | #979 | 234 | 137 |
World rankings
Similar names
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Toby on lists
Famous Tobys
- Toby Edward Heslewood Jones
English actor
- Toby Stephens
English actor
- Tobias Joseph "Toby" Turner aka Tobuscus
American YouTuber
- Toby Gerhart
American NFL football player
- Toby Keith
American country music singer
- Kevin Michael "Toby" McKeehan aka tobyMac
Christian singer/songwriter
- Toby Finn Regbo
English actor
- Tobias Alistair Patrick "Toby" Kebbell
English actor
- Toby Lee Gowin
American NFL football player
- Toby Edward Rosenthal
American painter
- Toby Victor Mott
English punk artist
- Tobias “Toby” Gad
German music producer
- Toby James McDonough
American musician of band Before You Exit
- Toby Markakis (b. 2013)
son of baseball player Nick Markakis
Toby in pop culture
- Toby Williams
character in the film "Labyrinth"
- Toby Ziegler
character on TV's "The West Wing"
- Toby Cavanaugh
character on TV's "Pretty Little Liars"
- Toby Kennish
character on TV's "Switched at Birth"
- Toby Lolness
character in Timothée de Fombelle's "Toby Alone" novels
- Toby Flenderson
character on TV's "The Office"
- Toby Grisoni
character in film "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote"
- Toby
character in Disney's "The Great Mouse Detective"
- Toby Mangel
character in Australian TV soap "Neighbours"
- Ticci Toby
character on website "Creepypasta"
- Toby Griffin
character in TV series "Justified"
- Toby the Tram Engine
character on animated series "Thomas & Friends"
- Toby the Pup
character appearing in theatrical cartoons in 1930 and 1931
- Sir Toby Belch
character in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night"
- Toby Isaacs
character on TV's "Degrassi: The Next Generation"
- Toby Mills
character on British soap opera "Hollyoaks"
- Toby
character on the animated series "Beyblade: Metal Masters"
- Toby Mitchell
main character on Canadian TV series "Toby"
- "Toby Tyler; or
Ten Weeks with a Circus," novel by James Otis
- Toby Waller
slave name of Kunta Kinte in book/series "Roots"
- Toby Duncan
youngest Duncan on TV's "Good Luck Charlie"
- Tobias "Toby" Domzalski
character in the Netflix series "Trollhunters"
- Toby Treacletart
rp character in realplay DnD podcast Drunks and Dragons. Played by Tim Lanning.