Boy · Hebrew · International · Christian
Toby
TobySay it TOH-bee
Toby meaning
Toby is an international and Christian boy's name of Hebrew origin.
Short form of Tobias; Hebrew Toviyyah, "goodness of Jehovah", "Yah is my good"
Toby is the English pet form of Tobias, the Greek version of Hebrew Toviyyah. The Hebrew joins tov, 'good', with Yah, a short form of God's name; Strong's glosses it 'goodness of Jehovah' and Brown-Driver-Briggs 'Yah is my good'. Tobias is the young hero of the Book of Tobit, read in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, who travels with the archangel Raphael. English literature has Sir Toby Belch, the merry uncle in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Baby-name lists give 'God is good', which matches. It is said TOH-bee.
Source: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, H2900 · entry Toviyyah · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
References: Strong's H2900, Toviyyah (with BDB and NAS entries) · Wikipedia, Toby
Famous namesakes
- Tobias, hero of the Book of Tobit
Popularity abroad
- #979 United States, boys 2025 (new in the top 1,000 since 2024)
US Social Security Administration - #89 England and Wales, boys 2025
Office for National Statistics
Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.
Spellings
Toby · Tobey · Tobi