BabyNameScoreName profile
Jacob
masculine
This reflects the first name on its own. The full-name report scores the complete combination separately.
Check it with a full name ↓Hebrew, from the biblical patriarch Jacob (Ya'akov) in the Book of Genesis.
Why it works
- English speakers will almost certainly pronounce it correctly on the first try
- spelling is short and predictable — rarely needs repeating
Popularity
Popular — #43 in the latest U.S. ranking.
Meaning and origin
Jacob's meaning is disputed among sources — the documented reading on file is that Jacob means Traditionally glossed as "supplanter" or "one who follows/holds the heel," reflecting a Hebrew root (ʿqb) meaning "to follow, to be behind" or "to supplant, circumvent"; some scholars instead connect it to the word for "heel.".
In Jewish tradition Jacob/Ya'akov is one of the three biblical patriarchs (with Abraham and Isaac) and, after being renamed Israel, becomes the eponymous ancestor of the Israelite nation, giving the name deep and continuing religious resonance well beyond its use as a simple English first name.
Documented origin: Hebrew, from the biblical patriarch Jacob (Ya'akov) in the Book of Genesis.
How it travels
English and Turkish are shown by default; German is included when it adds a meaningfully different reading.
Spelling stability: high — based on letter-pattern analysis, not a documented linguistic fact.
Also documented
en (IPA, general): /ˈdʒeɪ.kəb/
he (Modern Hebrew, Ya'akov): YA-a-kov
Popularity without panic
Popular — #43 in the latest U.S. ranking.
Well-liked and easy to place — most people will know it.
Full-name check
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Real-world considerations
- Popular — #43 in the latest U.S. ranking.
- Spelling note: Jakob.
- Hebrew philologists do not fully agree on the root: some derive Jacob from ʿaqev ("heel"), tied directly to the Genesis 25:26 birth scene, while others read the ya- prefix as a verb form meaning "may God protect" or "he follows/supplants." The popular gloss "supplanter" comes from the wordplay in Genesis 27:36 rather than from a settled linguistic derivation, so it should be treated as a traditional interpretation embedded in the text itself rather than a certain etymology.