Tosca
A feminine name of Italian origin meaning "from the town of Tosca".
Name Census estimates that about 188 living Americans carry the first name Tosca. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tosca today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tosca births was 1974 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tosca. 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 Tosca with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
188
~ 1 in 1,823,161 Americans
Peak year
1974
19 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2003 SSA rank
#18,229
Tracked since 1909
Census
Tosca in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 347 people with the first name Tosca, which placed it at #26,696 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
#26,696
National first-name rank
People counted
347
347 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tosca
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tosca is White at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Black (28.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Tosca 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 Tosca at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.8% · 204
- Black or African American28.0% · 97
- Two or more races4.9% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3
Popularity
Tosca: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tosca from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 90 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tosca 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 Tosca during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Toscas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tosca
The given name Tosca is believed to have originated from the Italian language. It is derived from the Italian word "tosco," which means "Tuscan" or "from Tuscany." Tuscany is a region in central Italy known for its rich cultural heritage and artistic traditions.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Tosca can be found in the 19th-century Italian opera "Tosca" by Giacomo Puccini. The opera's protagonist, Floria Tosca, is a celebrated opera singer in Rome. The name gained popularity after the opera's premiere in 1900 and became associated with the arts and Italian culture.
In the realm of literature, Tosca is the name of a character in the novel "The Portrait of a Lady" by Henry James, published in 1881. The character, a young American woman named Pansy Osmond, is affectionately called Tosca by her father.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Tosca. One of the earliest known was Tosca Eminente (1230-1284), an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts from Florence. Another was Tosca Sterni (1435-1492), an Italian painter and illuminator of manuscripts from the Renaissance period.
In more recent times, Tosca Reno (born 1959) is a Canadian writer and fitness model known for her bestselling books on health and wellness. Tosca Pivac (1926-2001) was a Croatian-born American actress who appeared in several films and television shows in the 1950s and 1960s.
Tosca Navi (born 1987) is a contemporary Italian actress and model who has appeared in various television series and films. She is known for her roles in the TV shows "Squadra Antimafia" and "Tutti Pazzi per Amore."
While the name Tosca has its roots in Italy, it has gained popularity in various other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, its historical significance and cultural associations remain deeply rooted in Italian heritage and artistic traditions.
People
Tosca + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tosca as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tosca: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tosca?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 188 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tosca 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 1,823,161 US residents.
Is Tosca a common name?
We classify Tosca as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 372 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tosca most popular?
The single biggest year for Tosca was 1974, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tosca is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tosca in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 347 people with the name Tosca, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,696 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 Tosca 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 Tosca?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tosca leans strongly female. 350 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 8 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Tosca?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tosca is White at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Black (28.0%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). 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 Tosca most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tosca in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.8% (204 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 Tosca in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tosca a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tosca in the SSA data are female. 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 Tosca still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tosca 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 Tosca 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 have Tosca as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.