Yaqub

What Yaqub means

Azerbaijani form of Jacob, meaning “May He Heel”

a male given name from Arabic, equivalent to English Jacob or James || 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, “Yaqub” (revision 89171768) and “Jacob” (revision 94540457), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Yaqub?

US: Rising: up from #3513 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #526 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2019, when 51 boys got the name (#2556 that year). First in the US records in 2000.

How common

• About 1 in 43,797 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,247 baby boys in England and Wales 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 NY (0.07 per 1,000 boys), CA (0.05 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Yaqub is #3089 in the US and #349 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 Yaqub were boys.

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

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Yaqoub12 US · 8 E&W
• Yaqoob7 US · 10 E&W
• Yakub8 US · 9 E&W
• Yacoub14 US
• Yakoub5 US
• Yacob0 US · 3 E&W

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 Yaqub

Boys

• Rayan#588Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #178 vs #588 in 2025
• Zayd#632Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #181 vs #632 in 2025
• Zaid#675Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1969, with 5 babies
• Omari#686Editor’s note Down from #508 in 2015 to #686 in 2025 in the US
• Ibrahim#351Editor’s note Up from #436 in 2015 to #351 in 2025 in the US
• Yusuf#449Same root as Joseph, meaning “(God) shall add”^*

For a sister

• Leila#259Editor’s note Steady in the US: #247 in 2015 and #259 in 2025
• Layla#36Editor’s note Down from #30 in 2015 to #36 in 2025 in the US
• Leyla#611Editor’s note Up from #782 in 2015 to #611 in 2025 in the US
• Sariyah#624“a cloud that comes by night”^*
• Lylah#584Editor’s note Up from #629 in 2015 to #584 in 2025 in the US
• Laila#413“night”^*

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