Jacob Boy
How popular is Jacob?
#43 boy name in 2025
6,152 baby boys were named Jacob in the US in 2025, making it the 43rd most popular boy name.
Jacob popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #43 for boys (▼ 3 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 6,152 boys |
| 10-year trend | Falling fast (-62% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #4 in 2015, #15 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1998 (36,031 boys) |
| Highest rank | #1 in 1999 (14 years at that rank) |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 4% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Jacob counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Jacob family of names ranked #45 for boys in 2025 (#41 the year before), with 6,503 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Jacob | 6,152 | 95% |
| Jakob | 135 | 2% |
| Jakobe | 122 | 2% |
| Jaycob | 81 | 1% |
| Jaykob | 5 | 0% |
| Jacobe | 8 | 0% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Jacob is most popular
Babies named Jacob per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Wyoming: 8.1 per 1,000 (47 boys)
- New Jersey: 8.0 per 1,000 (1,609 boys)
- New York: 7.8 per 1,000 (3,364 boys)
- Rhode Island: 7.7 per 1,000 (126 boys)
- Connecticut: 7.2 per 1,000 (490 boys)
Jacob by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,566 | #39 |
| 1890s | 2,551 | #65 |
| 1900s | 2,191 | #89 |
| 1910s | 8,684 | #110 |
| 1920s | 9,047 | #143 |
| 1930s | 5,264 | #212 |
| 1940s | 4,853 | #234 |
| 1950s | 5,400 | #289 |
| 1960s | 5,075 | #296 |
| 1970s | 36,351 | #45 |
| 1980s | 124,254 | #26 |
| 1990s | 298,415 | #1 |
| 2000s | 274,077 | #1 |
| 2010s | 163,321 | #1 |
| 2020s | 45,178 | #15 |
Boy names about as popular as Jacob
Questions
- Is Jacob a boy or girl name?
- Jacob is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Jacob were boys.
- How popular is the name Jacob?
- 6,152 baby boys were named Jacob in the US in 2025, making it the 43rd most popular boy name.
- When was Jacob most popular?
- Jacob peaked in 1998, when 36,031 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #1, held for 14 years starting in 1999.
- How many people are named Jacob?
- 990,532 babies have been named Jacob in the US since 1880. We estimate about 931,297 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 26.
- Where is Jacob most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Jacob was most common in Wyoming, at 8.1 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.