NameCensus.

UK boy's name

Jac

A diminutive of Jacob, meaning "supplanter" or "to follow".

For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.

Jac is a boy's name in the UK records. People looking for Jac popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #529, with 73 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2004, with 134 births.

This profile covers 2,801 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, NRS Scotland and NISRA Northern Ireland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.

The latest count is about 54% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.

We estimate that about 2,838 living people in the UK are called Jac. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.

Key insights

  • Jac ranked #529 for boys in England and Wales in 2024, with 73 registrations.
  • The name peaked in 2004, when 134 boys were registered as Jac.
  • Jac ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #311 in 2011.
  • About 2,838 living people in the UK are estimated to have Jac as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.

Latest rank (E&W)

#529

2024

Births in 2024

73

Latest year

Peak year

2004

134 births

Estimated living

2,838

2026

Meaning

What does Jac mean?

The given name Jac originated from the Hebrew name Jacob, which means "supplanter" or "one who follows." It first appeared in the Old Testament as the name of one of the biblical patriarchs, Jacob, who was later renamed Israel by God. The name gained popularity among early Christians and Jews, and its variants spread across Europe and the Middle East.

In the Middle Ages, the name Jacob was commonly used in its various forms, such as Jacques in French, Jacobus in Latin, and Jac in English. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jac can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the great survey of England completed in 1086 under the order of William the Conqueror.

Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Jac or its variants. One of the most famous was Jac van Artevelde (c. 1290-1345), a Flemish statesman and leader of the popular uprising against the Count of Flanders. Another was Jac Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), the renowned Dutch painter and etcher whose works are considered masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age.

In the realm of literature, Jac London (1876-1916) was an American novelist and short-story writer, best known for his works set in the Klondike Gold Rush, such as The Call of the Wild and White Fang. Jac Kerouac (1922-1969) was an American novelist and poet, a pioneer of the Beat Generation, whose most famous work is the novel On the Road.

In the field of music, Jac Brel (1929-1978) was a Belgian singer-songwriter and actor who composed and performed literate, philosophical, and highly emotional songs that influenced generations of performers. His legacy continues to inspire artists across the globe.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

Popularity

Jac over time

The chart below shows babies named Jac registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.

For Jac, the clearest high point is 2004. The latest England and Wales figure is 73 births in 2024, compared with 134 at the peak.

Babies born per year

Jac
03467101134199620102024

Decades

Jac by decade

Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Jac was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.

Decade Average rank Total births Years covered
2020s #478 420 5
2010s #415 1,009 10
2000s #302 1,095 10
1990s #348 277 4

Geography

Where Jac is most common

The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Jac. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.

Jac ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #311 in 2011.

Scotland
5
Northern Ireland
4

Across the UK

Jac in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland (NRS)

#532 in 2017

13 years of NRS records, 51 total registered

Northern Ireland (NISRA)

#311 in 2011

2 years of NISRA records, 7 total registered

Notable bearers

Famous people named Jac

  • Jac Norris

    association football player

    Welsh footballer

    2006-

  • Jac Morgan

    rugby union player

    Welsh rugby union player

    2000-

  • Jac Clarke

    badminton player

    badminton player

    2000-

  • Jac Holmes

    partisan

    British volunteer with the Kurdish YPG militia (1993-2017)

    1993-2017

  • Jac Lewis Williams

    writer; educator; scholar

    Welsh scholar, educator and writer (1918–1977)

    1918-1977

Related

Names similar to Jac

FAQ

Jac: questions and answers

How popular is the name Jac in the UK right now?

In 2024, Jac was ranked #529 for boys in England and Wales, with 73 births registered.

When was Jac most popular?

The peak year on record was 2004, with 134 babies registered as Jac in England and Wales.

What is the meaning and origin of Jac?

A diminutive of Jacob, meaning "supplanter" or "to follow".

How many people are called Jac in the UK?

A total of 2,801 babies have been registered as Jac across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 51 more in Scotland and 7 in Northern Ireland.

Where is Jac most common?

In the latest published local rankings, Jac ranks best in Northern Ireland, where it placed #311 in 2011. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.

Which records is this page based on?

The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.