Jacob is a common male given name and a less well-known surname. It is a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical e ...

of James, derived from Late Latin ''Iacobus'', from Greek ''Iakobos'', from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

(''Yaʿaqōḇ''), the name of the Hebrew patriarch,

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ...

son of

Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...

and Rebecca. The name comes either from the Hebrew root ''ʿqb'' meaning "to follow, to be behind" but also "to supplant, circumvent, assail, overreach", or from the word for "heel", ''ʿaqeb''. It can also be taken to mean "may God protect." In the narrative of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

, it refers to the circumstances of Jacob's birth when he held on to the heel of his older twin brother

Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

(Genesis 25:26). The name is etymologized (in a direct speech by the character Esau) in Genesis 27:36, adding the significance of Jacob having "supplanted" his elder brother by buying his birthright. In a Christian context, Jacob – ''James'' in English form – is the name for several people in the New Testament: (1) the apostle James, son of Zebedee, (2) another apostle, James, son of Alphaeus, and (3)

James the brother of Jesus James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord ( la, Iacobus from he, יעקב, and grc-gre, Ἰάκωβος, , can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was "a brother of Jesus", according to the New Testament. He was an early lead ...

(James the Just), who led the original Nazarene Community in Jerusalem. There are several Jacobs in the genealogy of Jesus.

Modern usage

From 1999 through 2012, Jacob was the most popular baby name for boys in the United States.U.S. Social Security Administration – Popular Baby Names
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Variants

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...

– Jakob, Jakobus, Jacobus * Albanian – Jakob, Jakov, Jakub, Jakup, Gjokë, Gjoka, Zhak *

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

– Yaʿqūb, Yakub (يعقوب); see also Jacob in Islam * Aragonese – Chacobo, Chaime * Armenian – Յակոբ (classical Armenian and

Western Armenian Western Armenian (Classical Armenian orthography, Classical spelling: , ) is one of the two standard language, standardized forms of Armenian language, Modern Armenian, the other being Eastern Armenian. It is based mainly on the Istanbul Arme ...

), Հակոբ ( Eastern Armenian) (Hakob, Hagop) *

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

– Yaqub, Yaqubun, Ceykob * Basque – Jakobi, Jagoba *

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

– Якуб, Якаў (Jakub, Jakaŭ) * Bengali – জ্যাকব (Jyākob), ইয়াকুব (Iyakub) * Bosnian – Jakub (Jakup) * Breton – Jakob, Jakez * Bulgarian – Яков (Yakov) *

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...

– Jaume, Dídac * Cebuano – Hakob *

Chichewa Chewa (also known as Nyanja, ) is a Bantu language spoken in much of Southern, Southeast and East Africa, namely the countries of Malawi , where it is an official language, and Mozambique and Zambia. The noun class prefix ''chi-'' is used for la ...

– Yakobo * Chinese – 雅各 (Yǎgè) * Cornish – Jago, Jammes, Jamma * Corsican – Ghjacumu *

Croatian Croatian may refer to: * Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * S ...

– Jakov, Jakob, Jakša * Czech – Jakub * Danish – Jakob, Jep, Jeppe, Ib * Dutch – Jaak, Jaap, Jakob, Jacobus, Jacco, Jaco, Sjaak, Kobus * English – Jack, Jake, Jakob, Jaycob; see also James * Esperanto – Jakobo * Estonian – Jaak, Jaagup, Jakob *

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

– Yacob, Yacob, Yakob * Faroese –

Jákup Jákup is a Faroese masculine given name, a cognate of the names Jacob and James. People with the name Jákup include: *Jákup á Borg (born 1979), Faroese footballer *Jákup Dahl (1878-1944), Faroese Provost and Bible translator *Jákup Pauli G ...

* Fijian – Jekope, Kope * Finnish – Jaakob, Jaakoppi, Jaakko *

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

– Jacques, Jayme, Jaume, Jacqueline (fem.) * Frisian – Japik * Galician – Xacobe, Santiago, Iago, Xaime * Georgian – იაკობ (Iakob), კობა (Koba) * German – Jakob *

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

– Iákovos (Ιάκωβος), Iakóv (Ιακώβ), Yángos (Γιάγκος) * Gujarati – જેકબ (Jēkaba) * Haitian Creole – Jakòb * Hausa – Yakubu * Hawaiian – Iakopo *

–Ya'akov (יעקב), Koby, Ya'akova (female) *

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

– याकूब (Yākūba) * Hmong – Yakhauj * Hungarian – Jakab, Jákob * Icelandic – Jakob * Igbo – Jekọb *

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesia ...

– Yakobus (used mainly by Christians), Yakub (used mainly by Muslims) * Irish – Séamas, Séamus, Sésamo, Sesame, Shéamais, Iacób, Siacus * Italian – Giacomo, Iacopo, Jacopo, Giacobbe * Japanese – Yakobu (ヤコブ) * Javanese – Yakub *

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

– ಜಾಕೋಬ್ (Jākōb) *

Kazakh Kazakh, Qazaq or Kazakhstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kazakhstan *Kazakhs, an ethnic group *Kazakh language *The Kazakh Khanate * Kazakh cuisine * Qazakh Rayon, Azerbaijan *Qazax, Azerbaijan *Kazakh Uyezd, administrative dis ...

– Жақып (Zhaqyp, Zhakip) * Khmer – លោកយ៉ាកុប (lok yeakob) * Korean – Yagop (야곱) * Kyrgyz – Жакып (Dzhakyp) * Lao – ຢາໂຄບ (ya okhb) *

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

– Iacobus * Latvian – Jēkabs *

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

– Jokūbas *

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...

– Јаков *

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

– ചാക്കോ (Chacko), യാക്കോബ് (Yakob) *

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...

– Ġakbu, Ġakobb * Māori – Hakopa *

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

– याकोब (Yākōba) * Malay – Akob, Yakub, Yaakub * Mongolian – Иаков (Iakov) * Montenegrin – Jakov, Jakša *

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

– yarkote sai *

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

– याकूबले (Yākūbalē) * Norwegian – Jakob *

Pampangan The Kapampangan people ( pam, Taung Kapampangan), Pampangueños or Pampangos, are the sixth largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines, numbering about 2,784,526 in 2010. They live mainly in the provinces of Pampanga, Bataan and Tarlac, as ...

– Hakub * Persian – Yaghub (یعقوب) * Polish – Jakub, Kuba, Jakubina and Żaklina * Portuguese – Jacó, Iago, Tiago, Thiago, Diogo, Jácomo, Jaime *

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

– ਯਾਕੂਬ ਨੇ (Yākūba nē) * Romanian – Iacob, Iacov * Romansh: Giacun, Giachen * Russian – Иаков (Iakov) (archaic O.T. form), Яков (Yakov, Iakov), Яша (Yasha, Jascha) (diminutive) * Samoan – Iakopo *

Scots Scots usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: * Scots language, a language of the West Germanic language family native to Scotland * Scots people, a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland * Scoti, a Latin na ...

– Hamish *

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...

– Seumas *

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

– Jakov (Јаков), Jakša (Јакша) * Sesotho – Jakobo * Sinhala – ජාකොබ් (Jakob), යාකොබ් (Yakob) * Slovak – Jakub (short form: Kubo) * Slovenian – Jakob a:kop Jaka *

Somali Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Soma ...

– Yacquub * Sorbian – Jakub * Spanish – Jacobo, Jaime, Yago, Diego, Santiago, Iago, Tiago *

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

– Yakobo *

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

– Jakob * Sylheti – য়াকুব (Yakub) * Syriac – ܝܥܩܘܒ (Yaʿqub), also (Yaqo, Yaqko) *

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

– Hakob *

Tajik Tajik, Tadjik, Tadzhik or Tajikistani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Tajikistan * Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan * Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan * Tajik (surname) * Tajik cu ...

– Яъқуб (Ja'quʙ) * Tamil – யாக்கோபு (Yākkōpu) *

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

– యాకోబు (Yākôbu) * Thai – เจคอบ Ce khxb, pronounced "Ja-khawb" * Tigrinya – ያእቆብ, ያዕቆብ (Ya‘ik’obi) *

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

–

Yakup Yakup is a Turkish given name for males and is a cognate of Jacob and James. People named Yakup include: * Yakup Ağa (fl. 1462), Ottoman cavalry knight * Yakup Bugun (born 1987), Turkish footballer * Yakup Gör (born 1988), Turkish sport wrestle ...

* Ukrainian – Yakiv (Яків) *

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
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– یعقوب (Ya'kub) * Uzbek – Yoqub, Yakob, Ya'qub * Vietnamese – Giacôbê, Giacóp *

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

– Siam, Jac, Iago * Xitsonga – Yakobo * Yiddish – Yankev, Yankl, Yankel, Yankele *

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba consti ...

– Jakọbù * Zulu – Jakobe

People with the name

Patriarch Jacob of Alexandria Jacob ( el, Ιάκωβος) served as Greek Patriarch of Alexandria between 1861 and 1865. References * 19th-century Greek Patriarchs of Alexandria People from Patmos 1803 births 1865 deaths {{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub ...

(1803–1865), Greek Patriarch of Alexandria 1861–1865 * Saint Jakov, Archbishop of Serbs 1286–1292 * Saint Jacob of Alaska, missionary of the Orthodox Church * Saint Jacob of Nisibis, Bishop of Nisibis * Jacob (Book of Mormon prophet) * *

References

{{Reflist Given names Masculine given names Hebrew masculine given names English masculine given names Irish masculine given names Scottish masculine given names Welsh masculine given names German masculine given names Dutch masculine given names Swedish masculine given names Danish masculine given names Modern names of Hebrew origin