Given name & surname
Jacobs
“heel grabber”·“supplanter”
Jacobs 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
Jacobs 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
Jacobs 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
Jacobs 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 1983. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Jacobs 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
Jacobs through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 81
- 81 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2008
- 11 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 7 in 2019. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 11 in 2008. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 268 as a first name in 2020; 114,905 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.
Jacobs’s family of names
Jacobs has a related form in Jacob. In German usage, Jacobs as a surname has a related form in Jacob. In German usage, Jacobs as a surname has a related form in Jakob.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 21
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Jacobvariant · German
- Jakobvariant · German
- Jacobyvariant · German
- Jakobivariant · German
- Jacobivariant · German
- Jakobyvariant · German
- Jacobusvariant · German
- Jackobvariant · German
Show 13 moreShow fewer
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
Similar names
If you love Jacobs, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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“encampment”
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Kaleb
“resembling an aggressive dog”
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Jakare
>99% boys
Jamarris
>99% boys
Jaborie
>99% boys
Gianni
“God is gracious”
80% boys · 20% girls