Toshua
A variant form of the male name Joshua, derived from the Hebrew name Yehoshua.
Name Census estimates that about 172 living Americans carry the first name Toshua. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Toshua today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Toshua births was 1983 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Toshua. 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.
People living today
172
~ 1 in 1,992,758 Americans
Peak year
1983
17 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1991 SSA rank
#9,526
Tracked since 1970
Census
Toshua in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 172 people with the first name Toshua, which placed it at #42,074 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
#42,074
National first-name rank
People counted
172
172 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Toshua
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Toshua is White at 49.4%. The next largest groups are Black (32.0%) and Two or More Races (8.7%). 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 Toshua 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 Toshua at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.4% · 85
- Black or African American32.0% · 55
- Two or more races8.7% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino8.1% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Toshua
Toshua is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 184 total registrations, 55 (29.9%) were male and 129 (70.1%) were female.
Toshua as a male name
- Ranked #9,526 in 1991
- 5 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1987 (12 births)
Toshua as a female name
- Ranked #13,041 in 1991
- 6 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1977 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Toshua on both sides of the split. Of the 168 people counted with this name, 35 were male (20.8%) and 133 were female (79.2%).
Popularity
Toshua: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Toshua from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 94 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Toshua 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 Toshua during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Toshua
The given name Toshua has its origins in ancient Sumerian culture, dating back to the third millennium BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Sumerian words "to" meaning "life" and "shua" meaning "protector" or "guardian." Thus, the name Toshua can be interpreted as "guardian of life" or "protector of life."
This name was prevalent among the Sumerian people who inhabited the region of Mesopotamia, which is now modern-day Iraq. It is thought to have been a popular name for boys born into families of warriors or those tasked with protecting the community.
Toshua is mentioned in several ancient Sumerian texts and clay tablets, which provide evidence of its usage during the early civilizations of the region. One such reference is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian poem that dates back to around 2100 BCE.
The earliest recorded individual bearing the name Toshua was a Sumerian warrior and chieftain who lived in the city-state of Uruk around 2500 BCE. He is known for his bravery in defending the city against invaders and is celebrated in local folklore.
Throughout history, several notable figures have carried the name Toshua. One such individual was Toshua ibn al-Khazari, a renowned scholar and philosopher who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century CE (799-861 CE). He was instrumental in preserving and translating ancient Greek texts into Arabic, contributing significantly to the intellectual renaissance of the Islamic Golden Age.
Another prominent Toshua was Toshua al-Razi, a Persian polymath who lived in the 9th and 10th centuries CE (854-925 CE). He made significant contributions to various fields, including medicine, philosophy, and alchemy, and is regarded as one of the most influential scholars of the medieval Islamic world.
In the 12th century, Toshua ibn Maimun, also known as Maimonides, was a renowned Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived in Cordoba, Spain (1135-1204 CE). He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Jewish theology and is known for his works, such as the Mishneh Torah, which codified Jewish law.
During the Renaissance period, Toshua Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (1475-1564 CE). He is celebrated for his masterpieces, including the iconic sculpture of David and the frescoes adorning the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Toshua throughout history, reflecting its long-standing presence and cultural significance across various civilizations and time periods.
People
Toshua + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Toshua 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
Toshua: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Toshua?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 172 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Toshua 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 1,992,758 US residents.
Is Toshua a common name?
We classify Toshua as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 184 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Toshua most popular?
The single biggest year for Toshua was 1983, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Toshua is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Toshua in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 172 people with the name Toshua, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,074 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 Toshua 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 Toshua?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Toshua on both sides of the split. Of the 168 people counted with this name, 35 were male (20.8%) and 133 were female (79.2%). 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 Toshua?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Toshua is White at 49.4%. The next largest groups are Black (32.0%) and Two or More Races (8.7%). 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 Toshua most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Toshua in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.4% (85 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 Toshua in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Toshua a female name?
Yes, 70.1% of people registered as Toshua 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 Toshua still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Toshua 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 Toshua 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 Toshua as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.