Jacob
Jacob is ranked 41st among boys in 2024 (6,496 births). It was the number one boy’s name in 1999–2012.
- Rank in 2024
- #41down 6 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 6,4960.38% of boys
- Peak year
- 199836,027 births
- Best rank
- #1first in 1999
- Since 1880
- 984,245people given the name
The story in the numbers
981,940 boys have been named Jacob in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1998, with 36,027 births — 1.9% of all boys recorded that year.
It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 4 → 41).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1999, and the 1990s alone account for 30%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 75 of them in the top 100 and 25 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 2,305 girls have also been given it, 0.23% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Jacob | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,566 | |
| 1890s | 2,551 | |
| 1900s | 2,191 | |
| 1910s | 8,684 | |
| 1920s | 9,047 | |
| 1930s | 5,264 | |
| 1940s | 4,853 | |
| 1950s | 5,400 | |
| 1960s | 5,080 | |
| 1970s | 36,355 | |
| 1980s | 124,263 | |
| 1990s | 298,410 | |
| 2000s | 274,064 | |
| 2010s | 163,266 | |
| 2020s | 38,946 |
In 1998, its biggest year
Jacob was the 2nd most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1998 were Michael, Jacob, Matthew, Joshua and Christopher. See all of 1998.
Names that rose and fell with Jacob
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Tyshonpeak 2000
- Spencerpeak 1998
- Marquezpeak 1998
- Garrettpeak 2000
- Jihadpeak 2000
- Alexanderpeak 1993
- Chansepeak 1997
- Christianpeak 2000
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.