BabyNameScore

Jacob

JAY·kub · Hebrew, from the biblical patriarch Jacob (Ya'akov) in the Book of Genesis. · 2 syllables

Jacob is a familiar, currently well-used name.

87/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

  1. Pronunciation & Spelling

    Clear, with one common misreading

    A documented English pronunciation is on file: JAY-kub. Commonly mispronounced as JAY-cobe.

    91/100

  2. Everyday Use

    Low risk

    Shortens naturally in everyday use, with six established short forms.

    95/100

  3. Growing Up

    Strong lifetime fit

    Works comfortably across child and adult settings.

    82/100

  4. International Use

    Broad international fit

    Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.

    85/100

NAME DETAILS

COMMON FORMS
Jake
Jay
Jakey
Koby
Jace
Jacey
CLOSE SPELLINGS
Jaycob
OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS
Jakob
Jakub
Jakov
Giacomo/Iacopo
Santiago/Jaime/Iago
Jacques
Yakov
ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

Jacob is the direct English transliteration of the Hebrew Ya'akov, the name given in Genesis to Isaac and Rebekah's second-born twin son, who is described as coming out of the womb holding the heel of his older brother Esau (Genesis 25:26). The text plays on this etymology again later when Esau accuses Jacob of having "supplanted" him twice, first by taking his birthright and then his blessing (Genesis 27:36). 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.

  1. יַעֲקֹב (Yaʿaqov). 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 the Genesis narrative Jacob deceives his father Isaac to receive the blessing meant for Esau, flees to his uncle Laban, marries Leah and Rachel, and on his return journey wrestles all night with a divine being at the ford of the Jabbok, after which he is renamed Israel ("he who strives with God"). His twelve sons — Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin — become the traditional ancestors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
  2. Mythological and religious contextJacob is one of the most theologically significant figures in the Hebrew Bible: patriarch, dreamer of the ladder to heaven at Bethel ("Jacob's Ladder"), and the man renamed Israel after wrestling with God. The name and its associated stories are foundational to Judaism, and Jacob is also honored as a prophet and patriarch in Christianity and Islam.
POPULARITY

Jacob over time

United States
#43RANK

Rank #43 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Widely recognized, but less suited to parents seeking rarity. Ranked #43 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

JAY·kub

STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE

COMMON FORMS
  • Jake
  • Jay
  • Jakey
  • Koby
  • Jace
  • Jacey
CLOSE SPELLINGS
  • Jaycob
OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS
  • JakobDE/Scandinavian/IS
  • JakubPL/CZ/SK
  • JakovSR/HR/Macedonian
  • Giacomo/IacopoIT
  • Santiago/Jaime/IagoES
  • JacquesFR
  • YakovRU
PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Reads as warm and approachable for a young child, largely because of the ready-made nickname Jake, which softens the more formal biblical weight of the full name.

INTO ADULTHOOD

Ages well into adulthood and professional contexts; its long run at No. 1 means it reads as solidly mainstream rather than dated, though its sheer ubiquity in the 1990s-2000s birth cohorts means many adult Jacobs share their name with numerous same-age peers.

Cultural Footprint

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.

TRACEABLE ORIGIN
  1. Jacob deGromMLB pitcher
  2. Jacob Tremblayactor
  3. Jacob Bernoullimathematician
  4. Jake Gyllenhaalactor, born Jacob
  5. Jacob Marleyliterary character, A Christmas Carol
  6. Jacob BlackTwilight character

Community Impressions

Jacob spent much of the 2000s and early 2010s as the single most popular boys' name in the United States, so it reads as a name of an entire generation of millennial and Gen Z fathers-to-be rather than an old-fashioned throwback. Its biblical weight — patriarch, father of the twelve tribes of Israel — gives it gravity that a purely modern invented name wouldn't carry, while "Jake" keeps a same-name casual option always on hand.

How this name is commonly received · not used in the score

More about Jacob

FORMALITY

Balances a formal, biblical full form with an easy informal shortening (Jake), giving it flexibility across formal and casual contexts.

Names around it

JamesJamieDiegoSantiago
EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Jacob is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

A documented English pronunciation is on file. Uses standard characters that systems widely handle cleanly.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK

See how it works with a surname.

Jacob