Primarily a boy's name · 100% boys
Origin: EnglishIn Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Jacob yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.
Jacob shares this batch's steepest decline with Mason, also down 62% over the past decade, but arrived there from a different height: it was the #1 boys' name in 1999, its raw count peaking a year earlier at 36,027 births in 1998. Total births run to 984,245 since 1880.
By 2024 it had fallen to #41 with 6,496 births — one of the sharpest reversals of any former #1 name covered across all three batches so far, alongside Isabella's fall from the top in the earlier batch.
The enrichment data's oldest reference for this name is the biblical patriarch, listed with a birth year of roughly 1790 BC — by far the oldest specific date attached to any name in this batch — alongside contemporary figures like former South African president Jacob Zuma.
Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.
→ See names similar to Jacob · Compare Jacob with another name → · Popular names of the 1990s · Boys names starting with J
Rank is among all boys' names registered that year.
| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 404 | #39 |
| 1881 | 381 | #39 |
| 1882 | 390 | #46 |
| 1883 | 356 | #49 |
| 1884 | 381 | #50 |
| 1885 | 343 | #53 |
| 1886 | 346 | #54 |
| 1887 | 317 | #56 |
| 1888 | 353 | #58 |
| 1889 | 295 | #67 |
| 1890 | 290 | #66 |
| 1891 | 238 | #69 |
| 1892 | 283 | #73 |
| 1893 | 292 | #65 |
| 1894 | 292 | #68 |
| 1895 | 266 | #74 |
| 1896 | 241 | #83 |
| 1897 | 204 | #88 |
| 1898 | 256 | #82 |
| 1899 | 189 | #92 |
| 1900 | 233 | #101 |
| 1901 | 172 | #98 |
| 1902 | 207 | #95 |
| 1903 | 189 | #103 |
| 1904 | 243 | #89 |
| 1905 | 220 | #98 |
| 1906 | 187 | #114 |
| 1907 | 243 | #101 |
| 1908 | 235 | #108 |
| 1909 | 262 | #102 |
| 1910 | 273 | #117 |
| 1911 | 323 | #116 |
| 1912 | 691 | #110 |
| 1913 | 744 | #117 |
| 1914 | 997 | #113 |
| 1915 | 1,122 | #121 |
| 1916 | 1,132 | #123 |
| 1917 | 1,122 | #130 |
| 1918 | 1,198 | #133 |
| 1919 | 1,082 | #138 |
| 1920 | 1,050 | #143 |
| 1921 | 1,094 | #143 |
| 1922 | 1,027 | #148 |
| 1923 | 975 | #160 |
| 1924 | 970 | #163 |
| 1925 | 901 | #166 |
| 1926 | 810 | #177 |
| 1927 | 855 | #173 |
| 1928 | 718 | #196 |
| 1929 | 647 | #203 |
| 1930 | 622 | #212 |
| 1931 | 572 | #217 |
| 1932 | 558 | #218 |
| 1933 | 539 | #213 |
| 1934 | 547 | #219 |
| 1935 | 475 | #245 |
| 1936 | 500 | #230 |
| 1937 | 536 | #223 |
| 1938 | 488 | #242 |
| 1939 | 427 | #262 |
| 1940 | 514 | #235 |
| 1941 | 466 | #257 |
| 1942 | 524 | #252 |
| 1943 | 476 | #281 |
| 1944 | 437 | #284 |
| 1945 | 417 | #293 |
| 1946 | 457 | #304 |
| 1947 | 522 | #301 |
| 1948 | 550 | #289 |
| 1949 | 490 | #308 |
| 1950 | 465 | #318 |
| 1951 | 502 | #311 |
| 1952 | 561 | #298 |
| 1953 | 590 | #289 |
| 1954 | 563 | #306 |
| 1955 | 577 | #303 |
| 1956 | 538 | #322 |
| 1957 | 540 | #331 |
| 1958 | 506 | #341 |
| 1959 | 558 | #328 |
| 1960 | 492 | #351 |
| 1961 | 506 | #352 |
| 1962 | 474 | #370 |
| 1963 | 487 | #353 |
| 1964 | 522 | #344 |
| 1965 | 489 | #346 |
| 1966 | 454 | #351 |
| 1967 | 447 | #353 |
| 1968 | 553 | #324 |
| 1969 | 656 | #296 |
| 1970 | 910 | #255 |
| 1971 | 1,056 | #224 |
| 1972 | 1,682 | #156 |
| 1973 | 2,124 | #122 |
| 1974 | 2,958 | #88 |
| 1975 | 3,619 | #75 |
| 1976 | 4,509 | #63 |
| 1977 | 5,789 | #56 |
| 1978 | 6,162 | #50 |
| 1979 | 7,546 | #45 |
| 1980 | 8,522 | #43 |
| 1981 | 9,345 | #43 |
| 1982 | 10,061 | #41 |
| 1983 | 10,998 | #36 |
| 1984 | 11,357 | #37 |
| 1985 | 12,286 | #35 |
| 1986 | 13,651 | #31 |
| 1987 | 14,326 | #31 |
| 1988 | 15,883 | #28 |
| 1989 | 17,834 | #26 |
| 1990 | 22,023 | #20 |
| 1991 | 25,197 | #17 |
| 1992 | 25,667 | #15 |
| 1993 | 27,485 | #9 |
| 1994 | 29,419 | #7 |
| 1995 | 31,134 | #4 |
| 1996 | 31,924 | #3 |
| 1997 | 34,163 | #2 |
| 1998 | 36,027 | #2 |
| 1999 | 35,371 | #1 |
| 2000 | 34,491 | #1 |
| 2001 | 32,573 | #1 |
| 2002 | 30,586 | #1 |
| 2003 | 29,658 | #1 |
| 2004 | 27,906 | #1 |
| 2005 | 25,851 | #1 |
| 2006 | 24,867 | #1 |
| 2007 | 24,308 | #1 |
| 2008 | 22,622 | #1 |
| 2009 | 21,202 | #1 |
| 2010 | 22,154 | #1 |
| 2011 | 20,401 | #1 |
| 2012 | 19,104 | #1 |
| 2013 | 18,196 | #2 |
| 2014 | 16,916 | #4 |
| 2015 | 15,999 | #4 |
| 2016 | 14,554 | #7 |
| 2017 | 13,265 | #9 |
| 2018 | 11,891 | #13 |
| 2019 | 10,786 | #12 |
| 2020 | 9,306 | #15 |
| 2021 | 8,481 | #24 |
| 2022 | 7,658 | #32 |
| 2023 | 7,005 | #35 |
| 2024 | 6,496 | #41 |
