Cobi
A masculine name of Scandinavian origin meaning "lively" or "resilient".
Name Census estimates that about 911 living Americans carry the first name Cobi. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Cobi today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cobi births was 2020 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cobi. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Cobi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
911
~ 1 in 376,240 Americans
Peak year
2020
47 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,215
Tracked since 1968
Census
Cobi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 815 people with the first name Cobi, which placed it at #14,460 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,460
National first-name rank
People counted
815
815 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cobi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cobi is White at 54.5%. The next largest groups are Black (19.6%) and Hispanic (12.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cobi described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cobi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.5% · 444
- Black or African American19.6% · 160
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 102
- Two or more races9.1% · 74
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Cobi
Cobi is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 927 total registrations, 673 (72.6%) were male and 254 (27.4%) were female.
Cobi as a male name
- Ranked #6,215 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (36 births)
Cobi as a female name
- Ranked #11,294 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cobi on both sides of the split. Of the 817 people counted with this name, 568 were male (69.5%) and 249 were female (30.5%).
Popularity
Cobi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cobi from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 255 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Cobi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cobi by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cobi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cobis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Florida, Michigan recorded the most babies named Cobi, while Texas, Michigan, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cobi
The name Cobi is believed to have its origins in the Hebrew language, deriving from the root word "kav," which means "line" or "path." It is thought to have first emerged in ancient Judaic cultures during the early centuries of the common era.
In some interpretations, Cobi is considered a diminutive or shortened form of the Hebrew name Jacob, which itself has biblical roots and translates to "supplanter" or "one who follows." This name connection may have contributed to Cobi's adoption and usage among Jewish communities in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cobi can be found in the writings of the 11th-century Jewish philosopher and scholar, Solomon ibn Gabirol, who lived in Spain and is sometimes referred to as Avicebron or Avicebrol. Though his given name was not Cobi, some historical records suggest he may have used it as a nickname or variant spelling.
In the 13th century, a renowned Jewish philosopher and Talmudic scholar named Nachmanides, whose full name was Moshe ben Nachman Gerondi, was also known by the nickname "Cobi" or "Cobi Nachman." He was a prominent figure in the Jewish communities of Spain and is remembered for his influential biblical commentaries and teachings.
During the 15th century, a Jewish scholar and physician named Cobi Levi lived in Italy and wrote extensively on medical topics, including a treatise on the plague. His works were widely circulated and contributed to the advancement of medical knowledge in Renaissance Europe.
Another notable figure bearing the name Cobi was Cobi ben Yosef, a 17th-century Jewish scholar and kabbalist from Tzfat, in present-day Israel. He was renowned for his expertise in Jewish mysticism and authored several texts on kabbalistic teachings and practices.
In more recent history, Cobi Jones, an American soccer player, gained fame as a member of the United States national team and played in multiple World Cup tournaments in the 1990s and early 2000s. He was born in 1970 and is considered one of the most accomplished American soccer players of his generation.
People
Cobi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cobi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cobi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cobi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 911 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cobi going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 376,240 US residents.
Is Cobi a common name?
We classify Cobi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 927 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cobi most popular?
The single biggest year for Cobi was 2020, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cobi is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cobi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 815 people with the name Cobi, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,460 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cobi in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cobi?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cobi on both sides of the split. Of the 817 people counted with this name, 568 were male (69.5%) and 249 were female (30.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cobi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cobi is White at 54.5%. The next largest groups are Black (19.6%) and Hispanic (12.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cobi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cobi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.5% (444 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cobi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cobi a male name?
Yes, 72.6% of people registered as Cobi in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cobi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cobi in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cobi can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Cobi?
Find out how many people share the name Cobi on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.