Given name & surname
Jakub
“he who supplants”·“heel grabber”·“supplanter”
In Polish use, Jakub has a related form in Kuba. In Polish use, Kuba carries the interpretation “he who supplants.” Jakub is a form 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
In Polish use, Jakub has a related form in Kuba. In Polish use, Kuba carries the interpretation “he who supplants.” Jakub is a form 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
Jakub is a form 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
In Slovak usage, Jakub developed from Ἰάκωβος. Jakub is a form 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.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1981. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Jakub is a form 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
Jakub through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 3,067
- 3,067 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2008
- 184 babies
- 2025
- 36
- #3,271 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −29%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 36 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 3,271 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 28.5% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 184 in 2008. In 2025, Illinois had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (9). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 3,795 as a first name in 2020; 405 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.
Jakub’s family of names
In Czech usage, Jakub has a diminutive in Jakoubek. In Czech usage, Jakub shares a linguistic root with the Norwegian Bokmål form Jacob. In Czech usage, Jakub has a conventional equivalent in the English form James.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Jakub has relatives in 36 languages.
50 related names in 36 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 13
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 56
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- JamesEnglish
- SantiagoSpanish
- Thiagoequivalent
- Diegoequivalent
- Jakeequivalent
- JaimeSpanish, Portuguese
- TiagoPortuguese
- Yakovequivalent
Show 48 moreShow fewer
- Seamusequivalent
- Jakobcognate · Norwegian Bokmål, German
- JacquesFrench
- JacoboSpanish
- GiacomoItalian
- Jimequivalent
- Yakubequivalent
- IagoWelsh
- JacobusDutch
- Jacoequivalent
- Yacobequivalent
- SeumasScottish Gaelic
- JakabHungarian
- JacopoItalian
- JakovBosnian
- Yakupequivalent
- JacóPortuguese
- JakobusGerman
- Iakovosequivalent
- Jiminyequivalent
- Jockelequivalent
- Iacobequivalent
- Séamusequivalent
- Jaccoequivalent
- Yakivequivalent
- يعقوبequivalent
- Ἰάκωβοςroot · Ancient Greek
- Jacuzzidoublet · Polish
- ЯківUkrainian
- ΙάκωβοςGreek
- ЯковRussian, Bulgarian
- DžeimssLatvian
- JēkabsLatvian
- JokūbasLithuanian
- IacobusLatin
- JaumeCatalan
- ジェームズJapanese
- 제임스Japanese
- IacopoItalian
- SéamasIrish
- יַעֲקֹבHebrew
- JaakkoFinnish
- JaakEstonian
- ДжеймсBulgarian
- JakezBreton
- JakesBasque
- JakueBasque
- JakupAlbanian
See also 8
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Jakub
- Jakub BłaszczykowskiPolish association football playerborn 1985
- Jakub KiwiorPolish footballer (born 2000)
- Jakub JanktoCzech footballer (born 1996)
- Jakub ModerPolish association football playerborn 1999
- Jakub SłowikPolish association football playerborn 1991
- Jakub WawrzyniakPolish footballerborn 1983
- Jakub VadlejchCzech javelin throwerborn 1990
- Jakub BrabecCzech soccer playerborn 1992
- Jakub KamińskiPolish association football player (born 2002)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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