NameCensus.

UK boy's name

Jakub

A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter".

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.

Jakub is a boy's name in the UK records. People looking for Jakub popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #560, with 68 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2010, with 501 births.

This profile covers 6,199 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 14% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.

We estimate that about 6,929 living people in the UK are called Jakub. 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

  • Jakub ranked #560 for boys in England and Wales in 2024, with 68 registrations.
  • The name peaked in 2010, when 501 boys were registered as Jakub.
  • Jakub ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #330 in 2024.
  • About 6,929 living people in the UK are estimated to have Jakub as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.

Latest rank (E&W)

#560

2024

Births in 2024

68

Latest year

Peak year

2010

501 births

Estimated living

6,929

2026

Meaning

What does Jakub mean?

The name Jakub is derived from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov, which means "supplanter" or "one who follows". It is a biblical name that appears in the Old Testament as Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the grandson of Abraham. The name is also found in the New Testament, where it is written as Iakobos in Greek.

The name Jakub is the Polish, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, and Slovene form of the name Jacob. In these Slavic languages, the name is pronounced with a distinct "ya" sound at the beginning, similar to the Russian variation, Yakov. The name's popularity in these regions can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when Christianity spread throughout Eastern Europe.

One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jakub is Jakub de Voragine, an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa who lived from around 1230 to 1298. He is best known for his compilation of saints' lives, the Legenda Aurea or Golden Legend.

Another notable figure with the name Jakub is Jakub Wujek, a Polish Jesuit priest and translator who lived from 1541 to 1597. He is famous for his translation of the Bible into Polish, known as the Wujek Bible, which greatly influenced the development of the Polish language.

In the 17th century, Jakub Sobieski was a Polish nobleman and father of King Jan III Sobieski, who is renowned for his victory over the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Jakub Sobieski played a significant role in his son's military campaigns and was a respected figure in his own right.

Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, Jakub Arbes was a Czech novelist, journalist, and playwright who lived from 1840 to 1914. He is considered one of the pioneers of Czech realism and is known for his works that criticized social injustice and hypocrisy.

In more recent times, Jakub Blaszczykowski is a Polish professional football player who was born in 1985. He has represented Poland in various international tournaments and is regarded as one of the country's most talented and successful footballers.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

Popularity

Jakub over time

The chart below shows babies named Jakub 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 Jakub, the clearest high point is 2010. The latest England and Wales figure is 68 births in 2024, compared with 501 at the peak.

Babies born per year

Jakub
0125251376501199620102024

Decades

Jakub by decade

Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Jakub 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 #360 669 5
2010s #153 3,922 10
2000s #586 1,586 10
1990s #2085 22 4

Geography

Where Jakub is most common

The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Jakub. 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.

Jakub ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #330 in 2024.

Scotland
11
Northern Ireland
3

Across the UK

Jakub in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland (NRS)

#330 in 2024

19 years of NRS records, 537 total registered

Northern Ireland (NISRA)

#404 in 2024

18 years of NISRA records, 236 total registered

Notable bearers

Famous people named Jakub

  • Jakub Kuba Kwiatkowski

    badminton player

    badminton player

    2007-

  • Jakub Tenčl

    writer; psychotherapist; hypnotherapist

    Czech clinical hypnotherapist and writer

    1978-

  • Jakub Konieczny

    mathematician

    D.Phil. University of Oxford 2017

Related

Names similar to Jakub

FAQ

Jakub: questions and answers

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

In 2024, Jakub was ranked #560 for boys in England and Wales, with 68 births registered.

When was Jakub most popular?

The peak year on record was 2010, with 501 babies registered as Jakub in England and Wales.

What is the meaning and origin of Jakub?

A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter".

How many people are called Jakub in the UK?

A total of 6,199 babies have been registered as Jakub across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 537 more in Scotland and 236 in Northern Ireland.

Where is Jakub most common?

In the latest published local rankings, Jakub ranks best in Scotland, where it placed #330 in 2024. 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.