Given name & surname
Jacobe
“heel grabber”·“supplanter”
Jacobe is a variant of Jacob. Traditional interpretations include “heel grabber” and “supplanter”—someone who takes another’s place. Both come from the biblical narrative, while the name’s original linguistic derivation remains debated.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Jacobe is a variant of Jacob. Traditional interpretations include “heel grabber” and “supplanter”—someone who takes another’s place. Both come from the biblical narrative, while the name’s original linguistic derivation remains debated.
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Jacobe is a variant of Jacob. Jacob is the English and Dutch form of the Hebrew Yaakov. James belongs to the same older name family, despite looking quite different in English.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
Jacobe is a variant of Jacob. The shared background comes through Jacob: The link with Hebrew akev, “heel,” comes from Genesis 25:26: Jacob is born holding his older twin Esau’s heel. In Genesis 27:36, Esau connects the name with being supplanted after Jacob gains his birthright and their father’s blessing. These episodes explain the traditional meanings; they do not settle how the name first arose.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1974. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Jacobe is a variant of Jacob. The history of Jacob gives this family its wider story. In Genesis, Jacob is the son of Isaac and Rebecca and the father of twelve sons associated with the twelve tribes of Israel. His name has a long history in Jewish and Christian communities. The related name James developed through a different Late Latin form, Iacomus, eventually becoming distinct from Jacob in English.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Jacobe through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,300
- 1,300 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2007
- 59 babies
- 2025
- 8
- #9,235 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −41%
- Cooling
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 8 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 9,235 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 40.7% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 59 in 2007. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,125 as a first name in 2020; 520 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Jacobe’s family of names
Jacobe has a related form in Jacob. In English usage, Jacobe as a surname has a related form in Jacobi.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Similar names
If you love Jacobe, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Tahan
“encampment”
>99% boys
Abiezer
“my father is help” · “father of help”
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Kaleb
“resembling an aggressive dog”
>99% boys
Nethaniah
“Yah has given”
>99% boys
Jacobee
>99% boys
Jakare
>99% boys
Jaborie
>99% boys
Josuhe
>99% boys