Tova
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "good" or "goodness".
Name Census estimates that about 2,560 living Americans carry the first name Tova. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tova today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tova births was 2023 (94 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tova. 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 Tova with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 133,888 Americans
Peak year
2023
94 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,684
Tracked since 1942
Census
Tova in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,400 people with the first name Tova, which placed it at #6,632 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
#6,632
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,400 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tova
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tova is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.9%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Tova 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 Tova at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.9% · 2,085
- Black or African American5.9% · 142
- Two or more races2.9% · 70
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 64
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 15
Popularity
Tova: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tova from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 574 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Tova remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tova 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 Tova during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tovas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, California recorded the most babies named Tova, while Minnesota, Georgia, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 132 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tova
The name Tova is of Hebrew origin and is believed to have derived from the biblical Hebrew word "tov," meaning "good" or "pleasing." It is a feminine name that has been in use since ancient times in Jewish communities across the Middle East and Europe.
The earliest known reference to the name Tova can be traced back to the Hebrew Bible, where it is mentioned as the name of a woman in the Book of Samuel. In the biblical text, Tova is described as the daughter of Shammah and the wife of Elkanah, who also had another wife named Hannah.
During the Middle Ages, the name Tova gained popularity among Jewish communities in Europe, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe. It was commonly used in Yiddish-speaking communities, often spelled as "Tovah" or "Tove."
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Tova dates back to the 13th century, when a woman named Tova bat Avraham lived in the city of Worms, Germany. She was a renowned scholar and is mentioned in several medieval Jewish texts.
In the 16th century, a prominent Jewish scholar and physician named Tova Cohen Undereyzer lived in Italy. She was known for her expertise in medicine and her contributions to the study of the Talmud.
Another notable figure in history who bore the name Tova was Tova Armon, an Israeli filmmaker and writer born in 1937. She is known for her award-winning documentary films that explored various aspects of Israeli society and culture.
In the 20th century, Tova Ringer was a renowned Israeli artist and sculptor born in 1935. Her works were exhibited in various galleries and museums around the world, and she is celebrated for her unique style and artistic vision.
Tova Feldshuh, born in 1951, is an American actress and playwright of Jewish descent. She has had a successful career on stage, television, and in films, and is particularly known for her portrayal of powerful and complex female characters.
While the name Tova has its roots in the ancient Hebrew language and Jewish culture, it has also gained popularity among non-Jewish communities in various parts of the world, particularly in Israel and certain European countries.
People
Tova + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tova 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
Tova: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tova?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,560 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tova 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 133,888 US residents.
Is Tova a common name?
We classify Tova as "Rare". It ranks above 94.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,683 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tova most popular?
The single biggest year for Tova was 2023, when 94 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tova is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tova in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,400 people with the name Tova, or 0.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,632 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 Tova 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 Tova?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tova appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,406 people counted with this name, 99.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Tova?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tova is White at 86.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.9%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Tova most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tova in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.9% (2,085 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 Tova in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tova a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tova 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 Tova still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tova 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 Tova 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 called Tova?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.