UK boy's name
Jacob
Hebrew name meaning "supplanter" or "one who follows at the heel".
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.
Jacob is a boy's name in the UK records. People looking for Jacob popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #30, with 1,484 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2012, with 5,286 births.
This profile covers 93,754 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 28% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 99,813 living people in the UK are called Jacob. 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
- • Jacob ranked #30 for boys in England and Wales in 2024, with 1,484 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 2012, when 5,286 boys were registered as Jacob.
- • Jacob ranks best in East of England in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #1 in 2015.
- • About 99,813 living people in the UK are estimated to have Jacob as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
Latest rank (E&W)
#30
2024
Births in 2024
1,484
Latest year
Peak year
2012
5,286 births
Estimated living
99,813
2026
Meaning
What does Jacob mean?
The given name Jacob has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov, which in turn comes from the Hebrew verb "aqav," meaning "to follow" or "to be behind." The name is believed to have been first used around the 2nd millennium BCE.
Jacob is a prominent name in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. It is the name of one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites, Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebecca. The Book of Genesis recounts the story of Jacob, who was later renamed Israel, and his struggles with his twin brother Esau. Jacob's name is mentioned numerous times throughout the biblical text.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jacob can be found in the Hebrew Bible, where Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebecca, is born around 1900 BCE. Several notable historical figures have borne the name Jacob, including Jacob ben Asher (1269-1343), a prominent Jewish codifier of Jewish law, and Jacob ben Judah Leon (1602-1675), a Jewish author and Talmudic scholar.
In the New Testament, the name Jacob is mentioned several times, including as the name of one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. This apostle, also known as James the Less or James the Younger, is believed to have lived in the 1st century CE.
Throughout history, several other notable figures have borne the name Jacob. These include Jacob Grimm (1785-1863), a German philologist and one of the Brothers Grimm, known for their collection of fairy tales; Jacob Riis (1849-1914), a Danish-American social reformer and photographer; and Jacob Zuma (born 1942), a former President of South Africa.
Other famous individuals named Jacob include Jacob Epstein (1880-1959), an American-British sculptor; Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897), a Swiss historian of art and culture; and Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29-1682), a Dutch Golden Age painter.
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Jacob over time
The chart below shows babies named Jacob 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 Jacob, the clearest high point is 2012. The latest England and Wales figure is 1,484 births in 2024, compared with 5,286 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jacob by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Jacob 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 | #22 | 9,677 | 5 |
| 2010s | #7 | 44,535 | 10 |
| 2000s | #24 | 29,271 | 10 |
| 1990s | #30 | 10,271 | 4 |
Geography
Where Jacob is most common
The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Jacob. 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.
Jacob ranks best in East of England in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #1 in 2015.
Across the UK
Jacob in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland (NRS)
#27 in 2024
46 years of NRS records, 4,336 total registered
Northern Ireland (NISRA)
#13 in 2024
28 years of NISRA records, 2,456 total registered
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jacob
-
Jacob Wright
association football player
English association football player
2005-
-
Jacob Whittle
swimmer
British competitive swimmer (born 2004)
2004-
-
Jacob Wardle
rugby league player
English rugby league footballer
1998-
-
Jacob Lintott
cricketer
cricketer (born 1993)
1993-
-
Jacob Young
politician
British politician
1993-
-
Jacob van der Beugel
artist
British-born Dutch artist
1978-
-
Jacob de Haas
journalist
British journalist (1872-1937)
1872-1937
-
Jacob William Barth
lawyer
British lawyer
1871-1941
Related
Names similar to Jacob
- Jack 188,738
- Joshua 145,192
- James 141,878
- Joseph 102,259
- Jake 66,896
- Jamie 41,243
- Jordan 36,750
- Jayden 28,921
- Jude 24,156
- John 22,240
- Joe 19,164
- Joel 19,004
FAQ
Jacob: questions and answers
How popular is the name Jacob in the UK right now?
In 2024, Jacob was ranked #30 for boys in England and Wales, with 1,484 births registered.
When was Jacob most popular?
The peak year on record was 2012, with 5,286 babies registered as Jacob in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Jacob?
Hebrew name meaning "supplanter" or "one who follows at the heel".
How many people are called Jacob in the UK?
A total of 93,754 babies have been registered as Jacob across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 4,336 more in Scotland and 2,456 in Northern Ireland.
Where is Jacob most common?
In the latest published local rankings, Jacob ranks best in East of England, where it placed #1 in 2015. 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.