Baby name
Jacob
Boy
Origin of the name
Jacob comes, through Latin and Greek, from the Hebrew Ya'aqov. The Book of Genesis links it to aqev, “heel,” because he was born holding his brother Esau's heel; but it more likely comes from Ya'aqov-el, “may God protect.”
Short-lived name
988,227births since 1880
1990sgeneration
No. 2rank at its peak, in 1998
Where babies named Jacob are born
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The darker the blue, the more common Jacob is in the state, compared with its births. White: no births published that year.
Where it is most popular
Compared with the national average, Jacob is most common in Nevada (2 times), Alaska (1.9) and Utah (1.6), taking into account all births in each state since 1910.
One letter apart
Names from the same era
Nicholas · Samuel · Christian · Alexander · Tyler · Jose
Born in…
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