The name is usually given to girls but occasionally to boys.
[1] It is also an alternative English spelling of the Hebrew name more commonly spelled Tovah or Tova.
Some believe the name to be a shortening of Þorfríðr, whose elements are the deity-name Thor and Old Norse fríðr 'beautiful'.
[2][3][4] Tófa and Tófi appear to have been relatively popular names in the 10th and 11th centuries and are found in Anglo-Scandinavian court witness lists[5] and later in the Domesday Book[6] in their Latinised form.
The personal name became a surname in medieval England, with spellings of Tovi, Tovie[7] (16th century) and Tovey recorded in wills and church documents.