ninan.org

Jacob

Boys' name · Millennial-era perennial

Living in the US
~931,500 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#43 among boys
Births in 2025
6,152 990,532 since 1880
Typical age
25 years, median

Jacob popularity over time

Jacob rank by birth year, 1880–2025Jacob ranked #39 in 1880 and #43 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #1, in 1999.#1#10#100#43best #1 in 199918901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

More children were named Jacob in 1998 than in any other year — 36,091 of them. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. Across the record, 76 years put Jacob in the top 100.

As of 2025 the name sits at #43, with 6,152 births that year. Compared with 2015, births are down 62%.

Babies named Jacob per yearPeaks at 36,091 births in 1998.36,091 in 1998018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Jacob?

An estimated 931,500 living Americans are called Jacob. That is out of 990,532 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Jacob?

The typical living Jacob is 25 years old. Most living bearers were born in the 1990s. By the site’s era rules that makes Jacob a millennial-era perennial name.

Your Jacob

Ages of living people named JacobHalf of living Jacobs are older than 25 and half younger.median 25020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Jacob is most common

Jacob is 2.1× as common in Rhode Island as it is nationally. District of Columbia, Connecticut and New Jersey follow.

Where Jacob is used more than average5 states use the name Jacob more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: 1.8× the national rateNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: 1.8× the national rateNJConnecticut: 1.8× the national rateCTRhode Island: 2.1× the national rateRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 1.8× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Jacob is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Rhode Island 360 2.1×
District of Columbia 322 1.8×
Connecticut 1,288 1.8×
New Jersey 3,856 1.8×
New York 8,596 1.8×

Jacob in England and Wales

ONS recorded 1,258 births named Jacob in 2025, ranking it #41. That is 46% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Jacob comes from

From Middle English Iacob, from Late Latin Iācōbus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος, from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב, from the third-person singular masculine imperfective form of the Semitic verb "to heel" (with various meanings), in turn from עָקֵב (“heel of the foot”). Doublet of James, Yaakov, Yakub.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Jacob

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Jacob Zuma 4th President of South Africa 1942 104
Jacob Grimm German philologist, linguist, jurist and mythologist 1785–1863 81
Jacob Burckhardt Swiss historian 1818–1897 61
Jacob van Ruisdael Dutch painter and engraver 1628–1682 48
Jacob Elordi Australian actor 1997 48
Jacob Roggeveen Dutch Pacific Ocean explorer 1659–1729 45
Jacob Jordaens Flemish painter, draftsman and designer of prints and tapestries 1593–1678 44
Jacob Batalon American actor 1996 42
Photo credits (6)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 328 in 1911 to 691 in 1912 — 2.1 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Jacob

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Same feel, less common

The same matches, limited to names given at most half as often as Jacob was in 2025.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/jacob.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).