Tovah

#9,411 in 2025Girls' name

Alternate transcription of Tova

Tovah has been given to 660 babies in the U.S. since 1976. In 2025 it ranked #9,411 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1979, with 37 recorded.

Babies named Tovah, 2025

1 in 301,000

Tovah over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Tovah: meaning, origin, and history

Alternate transcription of Tova

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Tovah means

Tovah is a alternate transcription of Tova.

Meaning behind the documented name family

Tovah is a alternate transcription of Tova. Tova has more than one origin or interpretation.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Tova.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 660 girls were recorded with the name Tovah between 1976 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 37 in 1979; its best national rank was #2,521 in 1979.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #7,536 in 2020 to #9,411 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #9,436 in 2015 to #9,411 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Tovah?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 301,000; 11 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only: 1 in 146,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025: #9,411; of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 208,901 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Tovah sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 208,901 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tovah. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tovahs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tovah was born before 1999 — so the typical Tovah is around 26 today.

Median birth year: 1999; About 26 years old
Biggest decade: 1980s; 29.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 47.6%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 660; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1980s — 29.4% of all recorded uses (194).

Is Tovah rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: −2,505; Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago: −1,875; Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago: +25; Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago: 0.92×; Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak: 29.7%; Peak was 1979 (37)
Years since peak: 46; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 20.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,521; 1979

Spellings of Tovah

Tovah is not the most common spelling — Nova is, with 41.4% against Tovah's 0.49%.

Nova41.4%55,783
Norah25.1%33,869
Avah5.2%7,046
Noah3.7%5,020
Tarah3.5%4,737
Toya2.9%3,969
Novah2.6%3,469
Tova2.0%2,750

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Tovah is used

Across 1910–2025, Tovah was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 1,296,326 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1California1 in —
2New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Tovah has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Tovah around the world

Where Tovah ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

South Australia
1984–1984
#661
in 1984

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Tovah by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: #9,411
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Down 1,875
Best rank ever: #2,521; 1979
Peak year: 1979; 37 that year
First recorded: 1976
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 660
Count in 2025: 11

Names similar to Tovah

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Tove Zivah Nevah Evah Tova Navah Ayvah Ivah Tovia Novah Aivah Ahavah Havah Avah Tikvah Aevah Anavah Alvah Tovi Aavah Knovah Maevah Anovah Janovah

Sibling names for Tovah

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Charissa Andria Malissa Catrina Cory Bambi Christal Shauna

For a brother

Jerod Shon Derrell Edwardo Andrea Jarrod Jerrod Delvin

Explore around Tovah

Top names of 1979, Tovah's peak year The 1970s in full Other names that peaked in 1979 Girls' names starting with T