Tobias m
Biblical: Greek form of Hebrew Tobiah ‘God is good’. This name is borne by several characters in the Bible (appearing in the Authorized Version also as Tobijah), but in the Middle Ages it was principally associated with the tale of ‘Tobias and the Angel’. According to the Book of Tobit in the Apocrypha, Tobias, the son of Tobit, a rich and righteous Jew of Nineveh, was lucky enough to acquire the services of the archangel Raphael as a travelling companion on a journey to Ecbatana. He returned wealthy, married, and with a cure for his father's blindness. A historical St Tobias was martyred (c.315) at Sebaste in Armenia, together with Carterius, Styriacus, Eudoxius, Agapius, and five others.
Cognates: Jewish: Tuvia (Hebrew); Tevye, Teive (Yiddish).
First names dictionary. 2012.