Yaakov
Masculine name derived from Hebrew meaning "supplanter" or "holding the heel".
Name Census estimates that about 5,644 living Americans carry the first name Yaakov. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yaakov today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yaakov births was 2021 (237 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yaakov. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Yaakov with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.6K
~ 1 in 60,729 Americans
Peak year
2021
237 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#978
Tracked since 1948
Census
Yaakov in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,225 people with the first name Yaakov, which placed it at #4,433 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,433
National first-name rank
People counted
4.2K
4,225 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yaakov
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yaakov is White at 96.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.6%) and Black (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Yaakov described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Yaakov at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.8% · 4,089
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 69
- Black or African American0.7% · 28
- Two or more races0.6% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 14
Popularity
Yaakov: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yaakov from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,728 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yaakov remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yaakov by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Yaakov during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yaakovs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Maryland recorded the most babies named Yaakov, while Texas, Ohio, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 490 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yaakov
The name Yaakov is derived from the Hebrew language and culture. It is a variant spelling of the Biblical name Jacob, which means "supplanter" or "one who follows". The name has its origins in ancient Hebrew texts, dating back over 3,500 years.
Yaakov is one of the most prominent names in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. It was the name given to the third patriarch of the Israelites, who was later renamed Israel by God. The story of Yaakov is recounted in the Book of Genesis, where he is described as the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the grandson of Abraham.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yaakov can be found in the Hebrew Bible, where it is mentioned numerous times. The name also appears in other ancient Jewish texts, such as the Talmud and Midrash.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Yaakov. One of the most famous was Yaakov ben Asher, a renowned Jewish scholar and codifier of Jewish law, who lived in the 14th century (c. 1270-1340). Another notable Yaakov was Yaakov Emden, a prominent German rabbi and influential scholar who lived in the 18th century (1697-1776).
In the Middle Ages, Yaakov ben Meir Tam, also known as Rabbenu Tam, was a highly respected French rabbi and Torah scholar (c. 1100-1171). Yaakov Berab, a 16th-century Italian rabbi and Kabbalist (c. 1474-1546), was also a prominent figure.
More recently, Yaakov Dori was an Israeli politician and the fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1899-1973). Yaakov Agam, an Israeli sculptor and pioneer of kinetic art, was born in 1928 and is still active today.
The name Yaakov has remained popular among Jewish communities worldwide, particularly in Israel, where it is often given as a traditional Hebrew name. It has also gained popularity in other cultures, sometimes with variations in spelling and pronunciation.
People
Yaakov + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yaakov as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yaakov: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yaakov?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,644 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yaakov going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 60,729 US residents.
Is Yaakov a common name?
We classify Yaakov as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,770 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yaakov most popular?
The single biggest year for Yaakov was 2021, when 237 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yaakov is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yaakov in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,225 people with the name Yaakov, or 1.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,433 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Yaakov in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Yaakov?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yaakov appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,229 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Yaakov?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yaakov is White at 96.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.6%) and Black (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Yaakov most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Yaakov in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.8% (4,089 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Yaakov in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yaakov a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yaakov in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Yaakov still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yaakov in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Yaakov can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Yaakov?
You can see how many people share the name Yaakov on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.