Boy nameCurrently #41 in the USFalling
Jacob
JAY-kub//ˈdʒeɪkəb//
2 syllablesPeak year: 19985 lettersStarts with J
Meaning & origin
Supplanter, holder of the heel
Jacob comes from the Hebrew 'Ya'akov', often explained in Genesis as relating to grasping the heel, since he was born holding his twin Esau's heel, and later interpreted more broadly as 'supplanter'. As patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel, Jacob's name has held enormous significance for millennia and topped US popularity charts for over a decade.
Jacob's popularity over time
| Year | Births named Jacob |
|---|---|
| 1880 | 404 |
| 1881 | 381 |
| 1882 | 390 |
| 1883 | 356 |
| 1884 | 381 |
| 1885 | 343 |
| 1886 | 346 |
| 1887 | 317 |
| 1888 | 353 |
| 1889 | 295 |
| 1890 | 290 |
| 1891 | 238 |
| 1892 | 283 |
| 1893 | 292 |
| 1894 | 292 |
| 1895 | 266 |
| 1896 | 241 |
| 1897 | 204 |
| 1898 | 256 |
| 1899 | 189 |
| 1900 | 233 |
| 1901 | 172 |
| 1902 | 207 |
| 1903 | 189 |
| 1904 | 243 |
| 1905 | 220 |
| 1906 | 187 |
| 1907 | 243 |
| 1908 | 235 |
| 1909 | 262 |
| 1910 | 273 |
| 1911 | 328 |
| 1912 | 691 |
| 1913 | 744 |
| 1914 | 997 |
| 1915 | 1,122 |
| 1916 | 1,132 |
| 1917 | 1,127 |
| 1918 | 1,203 |
| 1919 | 1,082 |
| 1920 | 1,055 |
| 1921 | 1,099 |
| 1922 | 1,027 |
| 1923 | 975 |
| 1924 | 975 |
| 1925 | 901 |
| 1926 | 810 |
| 1927 | 855 |
| 1928 | 718 |
| 1929 | 652 |
| 1930 | 629 |
| 1931 | 572 |
| 1932 | 563 |
| 1933 | 539 |
| 1934 | 547 |
| 1935 | 475 |
| 1936 | 500 |
| 1937 | 541 |
| 1938 | 488 |
| 1939 | 427 |
| 1940 | 514 |
| 1941 | 466 |
| 1942 | 524 |
| 1943 | 476 |
| 1944 | 437 |
| 1945 | 417 |
| 1946 | 457 |
| 1947 | 522 |
| 1948 | 550 |
| 1949 | 490 |
| 1950 | 465 |
| 1951 | 502 |
| 1952 | 561 |
| 1953 | 590 |
| 1954 | 563 |
| 1955 | 582 |
| 1956 | 538 |
| 1957 | 540 |
| 1958 | 506 |
| 1959 | 558 |
| 1960 | 492 |
| 1961 | 506 |
| 1962 | 474 |
| 1963 | 487 |
| 1964 | 527 |
| 1965 | 489 |
| 1966 | 454 |
| 1967 | 447 |
| 1968 | 553 |
| 1969 | 656 |
| 1970 | 910 |
| 1971 | 1,061 |
| 1972 | 1,688 |
| 1973 | 2,135 |
| 1974 | 2,979 |
| 1975 | 3,643 |
| 1976 | 4,531 |
| 1977 | 5,824 |
| 1978 | 6,203 |
| 1979 | 7,587 |
| 1980 | 8,574 |
| 1981 | 9,405 |
| 1982 | 10,131 |
| 1983 | 11,064 |
| 1984 | 11,406 |
| 1985 | 12,363 |
| 1986 | 13,729 |
| 1987 | 14,416 |
| 1988 | 15,961 |
| 1989 | 17,909 |
| 1990 | 22,081 |
| 1991 | 25,258 |
| 1992 | 25,719 |
| 1993 | 27,552 |
| 1994 | 29,469 |
| 1995 | 31,200 |
| 1996 | 31,977 |
| 1997 | 34,224 |
| 1998 | 36,087 |
| 1999 | 35,434 |
| 2000 | 34,550 |
| 2001 | 32,611 |
| 2002 | 30,627 |
| 2003 | 29,705 |
| 2004 | 28,077 |
| 2005 | 25,891 |
| 2006 | 24,904 |
| 2007 | 24,342 |
| 2008 | 22,651 |
| 2009 | 21,229 |
| 2010 | 22,183 |
| 2011 | 20,424 |
| 2012 | 19,130 |
| 2013 | 18,219 |
| 2014 | 16,929 |
| 2015 | 16,022 |
| 2016 | 14,570 |
| 2017 | 13,281 |
| 2018 | 11,900 |
| 2019 | 10,794 |
| 2020 | 9,315 |
| 2021 | 8,489 |
| 2022 | 7,668 |
| 2023 | 7,011 |
| 2024 | 6,505 |
Jacob through the decades
- Jacob peaked in 1998, when 36,087 babies were named Jacob in the US.
- Over the last 10 years of data (2015–2024), use of Jacob has fallen 51% compared to the 10 years before that.
- Jacob currently ranks #41 in the US and is cooling off.
Nicknames
JakeCoby
Variants & spellings
JamesJaime