Jacob

What Jacob means

Means “May He Heel”

From Middle English Iacob, from Late Latin Iācōbus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (yaʿăqōḇ, literally “May He Heel”), from the third-person singular masculine imperfective form of the Semitic verb "to he

Source: Wiktionary, “Jacob” (revision 94540457), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Jacob?

US: Falling: down from #4 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #5 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1998, when 36,031 boys got the name (#2 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 278 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 216 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 200 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in WY (12.84 per 1,000 boys), DC (9.1 per 1,000 boys), RI (8.0 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Jacob is #43 in the US and #41 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Jacob were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Jakob135 US · 26 E&W
• Jakobe122 US
• Jakub36 US · 68 E&W
• Jaycob81 US · 5 E&W
• Jeycob20 US
• Jeicob16 US
• Jacobe8 US
• Jaykob5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Jacob

Boys

• Seth#581“chosen one, appointed, placed”^*
• Zachary#216“Yahweh has remembered”^*
• Johnathan#508Variant of Jonathan, meaning “God has given”^*
• Andrew#73“manly”^*
• Jordan#131Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #59 in 2015, #131 in 2025
• Jonathan#89“God has given”^*

For a sister

• Anna#107Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #44 in 2015, #107 in 2025
• Jenna#679Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 6,436 babies; 418 in 2025
• Abby#731Diminutive of Abigail, meaning “my Father's joy”^*
• Rebekah#884“enchantingly beautiful, captivating, snare”^*
• Elisabeth#925“my God is an oath”^*
• Jordan#584Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #262 in 2015, #584 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Bible, Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Jacob’s. Rank is US 2025.