Toby
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Toby is a popular male name in many English speaking countries. It is also a popular name for Jewish women because of its similarity to the Hebrew name Tova.
The name is often used in its own right, but may also be a contraction of Tobias, Tobit, Tobin (an Irish surname - in Irish, "Toibin"), or Tobermory. In The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien "Toby" is used as a contraction of the hobbit name "Tobold", and "Old Toby" is used as a name for a type of tobacco. The only known Tobold outside of the Shire is Tobold M P Hemming in England/Australia
There are many characters in literature called Toby, including:
- Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night by Shakespeare
- Toby in Transamerica
- Uncle Toby in Tristram Shandy by Lawrence Sterne
- Toby the Tram Engine from The Railway Series books.
- Toby Philpot, a bibulous soldier from an 18th century song, after whom Toby jugs are named.
- Toby Tramp in The Mummy (1833) by William Bernard
- Toby Flenderson from the American version of The Office
- Toby Isaacs from Degrassi: The Next Generation
- Toby Ziegler from The West Wing
- Tobias (Toby) Beecher from Oz
- Toby Hamee in the Animorphs books by K. A. Applegate
- "Toby," a dialogue interlude from the Belle and Sebastian album Storytelling
In the London slang recorded in the autobiographical novel Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell, "Toby" is used to mean a tramp. In Cockney rhyming slang, "toby (jug)" means "mug".
Toby was the name given to the slave Kunta Kinte, whose descendant the author Alex Haley wrote the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family about his roots in Africa, his ancestor's life in slavery, and the family's struggle for freedom in American society. Toby was often used as a name for slaves in the United States.
In the traditional British Punch and Judy puppet shows, the dog is called Toby. Toby remains a popular name for dogs in some countries, especially in France.
