Holding steady.
Popularity of Tosca since 1909
Babies named Tosca per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1974, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Tosca's real moment was 1913.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 6 |
| 1910s | 61 |
| 1920s | 84 |
| 1930s | 10 |
| 1940s | 0 |
| 1950s | 20 |
| 1960s | 62 |
| 1970s | 90 |
| 1980s | 21 |
| 1990s | 8 |
| 2000s | 10 |
| 2010s | 0 |
| 2020s | 0 |
Meaning & origin
Tosca is an operatic rarity that briefly flickered into use after Puccini's 1900 masterpiece. The name first appeared in U.S. birth records in 1909, four years before its peak year of 1913, a time when opera-inspired names enjoyed modest fashionability. Since then, it has remained extraordinarily rare: in the latest year of data (2025), the name did not reach the threshold for a one-in-N calculation (meaning it was given to fewer than 5 babies). Its trajectory is essentially flat, never experiencing a revival. The name's early adopters likely were families with strong cultural ties to opera, but it never spread into mainstream awareness. Tosca stands as a quiet testament to 1910s artistic influence on naming, a footnote in the broader history of American name trends.
Tosca is a literary and operatic name, popularized by Giacomo Puccini's 1900 opera 'Tosca', itself based on the play by Victorien Sardou. The name may derive from the Italian region of Tuscany (Toscana) or from a character in the play. As a given name, it was adopted primarily in English-speaking countries in the early 20th century after the opera's success, but it has never been common.
“Tosca” around the world
Where Tosca lands in the latest official birth statistics abroad, matched to the U.S. spelling.
France
5
babies in 2024
Sources: INSEE (France).
Sibling names for Tosca
Names that share Tosca's style, for a brother or sister.
