Recorded 1882–2025 · United States
Toby was most popular in 1975, when 1,349 American babies were given the name — ranking #363 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,571, with 335 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 43,233 people named Toby.
Toby first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1882, which makes it about 143 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 127 of the 144 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 43,233 American births named Toby between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 36,645 are estimated to be alive today.
335 American babies were named Toby in 2025, ranking #1,571 that year.
Toby is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 285 births a year, against 466 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -39% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Toby is mostly a boy’s name — 19.4% of the 43,233 Americans given it were girls and 80.6% were boys. It changed hands: since 1946 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 28% girls and 72% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 36,645 Americans named Toby are alive today — 85% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 46 years old, and half are between 23 and 56. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Toby on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org