Kobe

Gender: Masculine
Origin: Dutch
Dutch (KOH-beh); Eng (KOH-bee)

The name is a Dutch short form of Jacobus, now commonly used as an independent given name.

As of 2008, Kobe was the 18th most popular male name in Belgium, while in the U.S. he ranked in as the 426th most popular male name (2010).

In the case of Kobe Bryant, he was named for the city in Japan after his parents had seen kobe beef advertised on a menu in a restaurant.

Coincidentally, Kobe is also a Swahili male name meaning, “tortoise.”