Kobe (given name)


Kobe is a Unisex given name that has multiple origins and meanings. Origins include Hebrew,Dutch, Swahili and Greek origins. Alternate spellings of this name are Coby, Koby, Colby, and Cobe. The first known use of the name was in Biblical times when the name "Koby" was used as a pet-name for Jacob. The Hebrew meaning is rooted to the words Yakov meaning "Yahweh may protect. It can also be translated to "Supplanter", Held by the heel, leg puller and heel-grabber from the Late Latin word "Iacobus" which is rooted to the Greek lakobos which is connected to the base name Jacob and used as a diminutive form for Jacob.
The Swahili meaning of the name Kobe translate to "tortoise" or "turtle". The Dutch meaning is similar to the Hebrew meaning but the name is a diminutive for Jakob instead of Jacob.
The name popularity has spiked in recent years with the popularity of American Basketball player Kobe Bryant with 14,000 children being born with his name over his 20 year NBA career. He was named after the Japanese dish Kobe beef when his parents spotted it on a menu. Between 1985-1995 there were only 14 recorded born in the United States given this name. Further on there were 87 born with this name in the year of 1996 alone.According to the United states social security statistics from 2000-2018 it has declined in rank starting in the top 300 and as of 2018 it is rank 574th most common in the United states. The gender of this name is mainly one-sided with 98.02% of people who bear this name being male and 1.98% being female.