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NameAlmanac

Jacob

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Jacob was given to 6,152 boys in 2025, #43 among boys’ names; 990,532 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 927,000 Americans named Jacob and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 18 and 33.

Jacob is the #22 most common first name among living American men and boys, by this estimate.

Babies named Jacob each year, first recorded in 1880
Jacob, 1880-2025; highest in 1998.10k20k30k40k188019001920194019601980200020251998 peak: 36,091
Jacob, 1880-2025; highest in 1998.10k20k30k40k188019001920194019601980200020251998 peak: 36,091
Jacob, 1880-2025; highest in 1998.10k20k30k40k18801905193019551980200520251998 peak: 36,091
Jacob, 1880-2025; highest in 1998.10k20k30k40k18801930198020251998 peak: 36,091

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Jacob or JakobNames of the 1990sNames in California

Births of Jacob by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Jacob mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Jacob is “a male given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the senses “May He Heel” (literally) and “to heel” (verb) and “heel of the foot” (עָקֵב).

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 heel” (with various meanings), in turn from עָקֵב (ʿāqēḇ, “heel of the foot”). Doublet of James, Yaakov, and Yakub.

/ˈd͡ʒeɪkəb/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Jacob (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Jacob?

#43 among boys’ names, 2025

Jacob fell from #4 in 2015 to #43 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 8.4 to 3.6 per 1,000.

36,091 babies in 1998, the peak

Jacob peaked in 1998, when 36,091 babies were given it (36,031 boys, #2 among boys’ names). The 6,152 births of 2025 are 17% of that peak.

Jacob by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20256,152#433.6
20246,541#403.8
20237,015#354.1
20227,667#324.4
20218,494#244.9
20209,309#155.4
201910,797#126.0
201811,897#136.6
201713,269#97.2
201614,559#77.7
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
201516,005#48.4
201416,923#48.8
201318,201#29.6
201219,110#110.1
201120,403#110.7
201022,157#111.5
200921,204#110.7
200822,621#111.1
200724,310#111.7
200624,871#112.1
200525,851#112.9
200427,911#114.1
200329,658#115.0
200230,586#115.8
200132,573#116.8
200034,492#117.6
199935,371#118.4
199836,031#218.9
199734,163#218.1
199631,925#316.9
199531,134#416.4
199429,417#715.2
199327,487#914.0
199225,665#1512.8
199125,200#1712.5
199022,022#2010.7
198917,831#268.9
198815,883#288.3
198714,326#317.7
198613,652#317.4
198512,284#356.6
198411,358#376.3
198310,999#366.1
198210,059#415.5
19819,342#435.2
19808,520#434.8
19797,545#454.4
19786,161#503.8
19775,788#563.5
19764,509#632.9
19753,618#752.3
19742,957#881.9
19732,123#1221.4
19721,683#1551.0
19711,057#2230.60
1970910#2550.49
1969656#2960.37
1968553#3240.32
1967445#3550.26
1966454#3510.25
1965487#3470.26
1964522#3440.26
1963487#3530.24
1962474#3700.23
1961504#3540.24
1960493#3510.23
1959558#3280.26
1958506#3410.24
1957540#3310.25
1956538#3220.25
1955577#3030.28
1954563#3060.28
1953590#2890.30
1952561#2980.29
1951502#3110.27
1950465#3180.26
1949490#3080.28
1948550#2890.31
1947522#3010.29
1946457#3040.28
1945417#2930.31
1944437#2840.32
1943476#2810.33
1942524#2520.38
1941466#2570.38
1940514#2350.44
1939427#2620.39
1938488#2420.44
1937536#2230.50
1936500#2300.48
1935475#2450.46
1934547#2190.53
1933539#2130.54
1932558#2180.53
1931572#2170.55
1930622#2120.57
1929647#2030.60
1928718#1960.65
1927855#1730.76
1926810#1770.73
1925901#1660.81
1924970#1630.86
1923975#1600.89
19221,027#1480.94
19211,094#1431.0
19201,050#1431.0
19191,082#1381.1
19181,198#1331.2
19171,122#1301.2
19161,132#1231.3
19151,122#1211.3
1914997#1131.5
1913744#1171.5
1912691#1101.6
1911323#1161.4
1910273#1171.4
1909262#1021.6
1908235#1081.5
1907243#1011.7
1906187#1141.4
1905220#981.7
1904243#891.9
1903189#1031.6
1902207#951.7
1901172#981.6
1900233#1011.5
1899189#921.8
1898256#822.1
1897204#881.8
1896241#832.0
1895266#742.3
1894292#682.5
1893292#652.6
1892283#732.3
1891238#692.4
1890290#662.6
1889295#672.7
1888353#582.9
1887317#563.1
1886346#543.1
1885343#533.2
1884381#503.3
1883356#493.4
1882390#463.4
1881381#393.8
1880404#393.7

Download Jacob’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Jacob a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Jacob has been given almost only to boys: 2,305 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Jacob: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Jacob, and how old are they?

927,000 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 94% of the 990,532 Americans ever recorded as Jacob. The median Jacob alive today is 26 years old; half are between 18 and 33.

The 2020 Census counted 805,730 people named Jacob (1,172 women and girls, 804,558 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 895,215 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.

Alive today, by age

100-10916
90-99368
80-891,540
70-793,240
60-693,860
50-5916,500
40-4989,200
30-39231,000
20-29 (median)305,000
10-19194,000
0-980,600

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-19451,680
Baby Boomers1946-19646,540
Generation X1965-198043,300
Millennials1981-1996296,000
Generation Z1997-2012434,000
Generation Alpha2013-2025146,000

An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.

Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).

Where are babies named Jacob born?

The states with the most babies named Jacob are California, Texas and New York, with 34% of its births recorded by state in 2025.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateBirths 2025Rank, boysvs. national
California744#410.9×
Texas734#360.9×
New York631#90.8×
Florida472#290.8×
New Jersey274#150.7×
Pennsylvania253#401.0×
North Carolina182#600.9×
Ohio175#601.1×
Illinois172#591.0×
Virginia162#401.0×

Where Jacob is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Jacob is most over-represented in Wisconsin: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

Wisconsin1.28×
Iowa1.23×
Minnesota1.22×
Michigan1.20×
Indiana1.18×
Missouri1.15×
Ohio1.14×
Nebraska1.13×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Jacob with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.

Names spelled alike

Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 1,033,240 babies since 1880, Jacob is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 6,152 of their 6,409 babies (96%), again the most given.

Jacob and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Jacob990,5326,1521998
Jakob31,9591352001
Jaycob4,519812012
Jakub3,067362008
Jakeb1,170under 51999
Jaykob1,11952012
Jaccob629under 51994
Jacobb245under 51995

Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.

Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Jacob

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

NameRecorded1880-2025
Alexander740,668
Spencer129,638
Christian473,843
Garrett136,214

Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

More about Jacob and names like it

  1. Compare Jacob and JakobBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 1990sJacob peaked in 1998.
  3. California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jacob since 1910.
  4. Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Jacob: every such name, by how often it is given.
  5. The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Jacob.
  6. The names of Generation ZMost people named Jacob alive today were born 1997-2012.
  7. Names starting with JMost given first.

Compare Jacob with another name