Given name
Yaacov
“heel grabber”·“supplanter”
In English use, Yaacov has a related form in 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 English use, Yaacov has a related form in 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
In English use, Yaacov has a related form in 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 English use, Yaacov has a related form in 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 1979. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. In English use, Yaacov has a related form in 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
Yaacov through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 127
- 127 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2000
- 10 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 5 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 10 in 2000. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 304 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Yaacov’s family of names
In English usage, Yaacov has a related form in Jacob.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 33
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Jackequivalent
- Santiagoequivalent
- Thiagoequivalent
- Diegoequivalent
- Jaimeequivalent
- Yaakovequivalent
- Tiagoequivalent
- Yakovequivalent
Show 25 moreShow fewer
- Jakobequivalent
- Jacquesequivalent
- Jacoboequivalent
- Diagoequivalent
- Yagoequivalent
- Yakubequivalent
- Iagoequivalent
- Jacobusequivalent
- Yacobequivalent
- Jacopoequivalent
- Jakovequivalent
- Dydakequivalent
- Iacobequivalent
- Iacopoequivalent
- Иаковequivalent
- Jaumeequivalent
- Jaakobequivalent
- Jokūbasequivalent
- يعقوبequivalent
- Iakovequivalent
- Jaakkoequivalent
- Xacobeequivalent
- Яковequivalent
- Iacobusequivalent
- Chaimeequivalent
People named Yaacov
- James, brother of JesusJewish bishop of Jerusalem figure in Early Christianity100–62
- James the LessChristian saint100–62
- Yaacov AgamIsraeli sculptor and experimental artist (1928-2026)
- Jacob ZivIsraeli computer scientist (1931–2023)
- Ya'akov KatzIsraeli politicianborn 1951
- Ya'acov Ben-DovIsraeli photographer1882–1968
- Yaakov RosnerIsraeli photographer (1902–1950)
- Yakov SpringerMunich Massacre victim (1921–1972)
- Yasha ManasherovIsraeli wrestlerborn 1980
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Yaacov, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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