Jacob
Featured in baby name books
Jacob is a Hebrew name meaning “supplanter,” with “heel” also given. In the Bible, Jacob was the younger twin son of Isaac and Rebekah who took his brother Esau’s birthright and became a great patriarch. Jacob reached number one in the U.S. by 1999, appealing to both Jews and Christians and helped by the friendly nickname Jake. In The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Dr. Jacob Barnhardt is the scientist who advises the alien Klaatu on delivering his message of peace.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, The Best Baby Names for Boys, Classic Biblical Baby Names, The Everything Baby Names Book, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, Numerology for Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Sci-Fi Baby Names
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Usage of Jacob in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Jacob against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Jacob is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Jacob in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 6,152 boys were named Jacob, making it the #43 boys' name in the US. Since 1880, 988,227 boys have been named Jacob, with the most (36,031) in 1998. It is most common, relative to births, in Wyoming, Washington, D.C. and Rhode Island.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Jacob in other languages
- Diego Dutch, Italian, Spanish
- Jaime English, Portuguese, Spanish
- Iago Italian, Welsh
- Jacobus Dutch, Latin
- Jacques Dutch, French
- Jakob Dutch, German
- Jakub Czech, Polish
- Jim Dutch, English
- Santiago Portuguese, Spanish
- Diogo Portuguese
- Giacomo Italian
- Giacôbê Vietnamese
- Jaakko Finnish
- Jacco Dutch
- Jacopo Italian
- Jacó Portuguese
- Jakab Hungarian
- James English
- Jaume Catalan
- Jokūbas Lithuanian
- Jēkabs Latvian
- Yacob Dutch
- Yago Spanish
- Yakup Turkish
- Яков Russian
- יעקב Hebrew
- يعقوب Arabic
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Storms named Jacob
Tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that have been named Jacob, newest first.
| Storm | Year | Ocean | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyclone Jacob (Category 1) | 2007 | South Indian Ocean | 139 km/h |
| Cyclone Jacob (Category 2) | 1996 | South Pacific | 167 km/h |
| Cyclone Jacob (Category 1) | 1985 | South Indian Ocean | 139 km/h |
Source: IBTrACS, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Peak wind is the highest sustained wind recorded for the storm.
Towns named Jacob
There are 52 towns and villages with Jacob in their name, in 15 countries.
🇧🇷 Brazil 10🇿🇲 Zambia 8🇱🇷 Liberia 7🇺🇸 United States 6🇭🇹 Haiti 5🇲🇿 Mozambique 4🇨🇴 Colombia 2🇫🇷 France 2
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob-Bellecombette | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 🇫🇷 France | 3,861 | Map |
| Saint Jacob | Illinois, 🇺🇸 United States | 1,098 | Map |
| Jacob City | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | 244 | Map |
| Jacob Creek | Victoria, 🇦🇺 Australia | 21 | Map |
| Ago-Jacob | Osun State, 🇳🇬 Nigeria | – | Map |
| Bas Jacob | Centre, 🇭🇹 Haiti | – | Map |
| Camp Jacob | 🇬🇵 Guadeloupe | – | Map |
| El Jacob | Campeche, 🇲🇽 Mexico | – | Map |
| Haut Jacob | Centre, 🇭🇹 Haiti | – | Map |
| Jacob | Nord-Ouest, 🇭🇹 Haiti | – | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Jacob
There are 17 lakes and reservoirs with Jacob in their name, in 2 countries.
🇨🇦 Canada 12🇺🇸 United States 5
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Jacob Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Jacob Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Jacob Lake | Manitoba, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Jacob Lake | Arizona, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Jacob Lake | Arizona, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Jacob Reservoir | Arizona, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lac Jacob | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Jacob | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Jacob | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Jacob | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Jacob songs
32 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Jacob in their title. The best known:
- Jacob's Ladder – Huey Lewis and the News (1987)
- The Dream of Jacob – Krzysztof Penderecki (1974)
- Jacob Skjærsliper (1955)
- Jacob's Ladder – Steve Reich
- Jacob's Ladder – Mark Wills (1996)
- Jacob's Ladder – Dreadlock Pussy (2003)
- Jacob's Ladder – Rush (1980)
- Jacob's Ladder (Not in My Name) – Chumbawamba (2002)
- Jacob's Song – Douwe Bob (2016)
- We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder – traditional
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Jacob
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Jacob.
Jacob Aagaard
Jacob Artist
Jacob Bannon
Jacob Burns
See more...
Fictional characters named Jacob
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Jacob as a pet name
FurryName has found 210 dogs named Jacob in public pet registers, making it the #825 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Burlington (2), Prospect (2), Fusagasugá (1). Jacob as a dog name →
FurryName has found 9 cats named Jacob in public pet registers, making it the #1,013 cat name there. Most of them are registered in Toronto (5), Vancouver (2), Seattle (2). Jacob as a cat name →
Jacob products
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