Name of the Week: Jacob

 

 

Origin:

Jacob is an anglicised form of the Hebrew Ya'aqov, a name which appears frequently in the bible and was most notably attributed to one of the great Jewish patriarchs.  In the book of Genesis, Jacob was the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham. He was given the name Israel, and thus he is the patriarch of the Israelites, as his twelve sons were the progenitors of the Tribes of Israel.  There is some debate about the etymology of Ya'aqov (Jacob). The meaning put forward by Genesis is "hand on the heal," referring to the fact that he was born holding his brother's heel. If so, it would relate to the Hebrew yad "hand" and aqeb "heel." By extension, aqeb also figuratively means "circumvent, overreach, deal craftily, supplant" (i.e. to trip someone up by the heals) in reference to Jacob supplanting his brother in their father's affections and his inheritance.  However, like his father's name, Isaac, Ya'aqov is likely an abbreviation of a Canaanite theophorus name such as Ya'aqob'el "may God protect."* In Greek, Ya'aqov became Iakobos (Ιακωβος) which was then transliterated into Latin as Iacobus (Jacobus) and, in Late Latin, Iacomus (Jacomus).  Jacobus became Iago in Spanish, Jacques in French and Jacob in English, while Jacomus became Jaime in Spanish and James in Old French and English. When the King James Bible (1611) translated the Latin bible into English, Jacob (Jacobus) was used in the Old Testament and James (Jacomus) in the New Testament.

Usage:

Partly thanks to its being attached to one of the most notable Jewish patriarchs, by the 1st century BC, Jacob was one of the the most popular Jewish names, and in Britain, the name has always been common among the Jewish community. Intriguingly, Reaney and Wilson point out that the medieval surnames Jacob, Jacobs and Jacubs are not Jewish in origin, citing an early pre-Conquest example of an ecclesiastic.* The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE) also has record of a subregulus (vassal ruler) named Jacob who is cited on a charter dated 963-971.  After the Conquest of 1066, the popularity of Jacob is incredibly hard to determine. Official records were Latinised, and Jacobus was used as the Latin form for both Jacob and James (this was long before the Jacobus-Jacob/Jacomus-James distinction made in the King James Bible of 1611).  James is regarded as being the most common vernacular form of the two, partly thanks to the the cult of St James the Great, one of the twelve apostles who became the patron saint of Spain and whose cult was focused at Compostela in Galicia-- one of the most important pilgramage centres in medieval Christendom. The Spanish Jaime (the Spanish form of Jacomus), therefore, may have been more influential in Britain than Jacob as the vernacular of Jacobus thanks to the saint's popular cult.The earliest recorded pilgramage from England to Compostela is in 1148 and by the end of that century instances of the name James appear in British records -- a Jam' de Sancto Hylario is mentioned in a Northamptonshire charter of 1173-6, and James, son of Lambin is mentioned in the Loudoun Charters in Scotland (1162-1190). Of the 440 churches named "St James" in England, 414 are dedicated to St James the Great. In the second half of the 16th century, many Old Testament names come into fashion, including Abraham, Isaac, Nathaniel and Benjamin, and it is here that we start to see Jacob being used more independently from James as a distinct name.  In Smith Bannister's rank of top 50 names from 1538 to 1670 in England, Jacob didn't reach the top 50 until 1590: 1538-49: --; 1550-9: --; 1560-9: --; 1570-9: --; 1580-9: --; 1590-9: #50; 1600-9: --; 1610-9: --; 1620-9: --; 1630-9: #38; 1640-9: --; 1650-9: --; 1660-9: #37; 1670-9: #44; 1680-9: #37; 1690-1700: #39.  Jacob was further bolstered in the 17th century by the Huguenots. It was a popular name among French Protestants at this time and brought over by the many thousands of French refugees who settled in England.  The name was well used across the 19th century in Britain, but gradually began to decline over the course of the century as Old Testament names fell out of fashion in favour of medieval Norman and Celtic names.   Data from the Surname Atlas (click to enlarge) Data from the 1881 census shows that it was -- when looking at the population per 100,000 people -- evenly spread across England and Wales, but little used in Scotland, except for Orkney and Shetland.  Jacob was in the top 100 England and Wales throughout the 19th century, but had dropped out in the turn of the 20th century: 1850: #48 1860: #55 1870: #70 1880: #85 1890: #92 1900: #109 1904: *out of top 100* Jacob remained outside of the top 100 through most of the 20th century, until the 1990s, but was still in some moderate use up until the 1970s as Leslie Dunkling's sample for boys named Jacob in every 10,000 births show: 1900 1925 1935 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990   3   2   1    2    -    2    2   -   -    -   12   48 By 1994, Jacob was back in the top 100 having at the rank of #35. This is a significant rise, as it wasn't in the top 100 at all ten years previously. The short form, Jake, was even more successful, having risen to #18 in the same year.  Up until the late 2000s, Jake was the more popular form, but from 2008 it began to decline in use, while Jacob took a steep upward curve.  Up until this point, Jacob had been slowly and steadily rising each year but saw a marked increase in 2010 when it went from #18 (3214 births) to #12 (4308 births) -- an increase of over one thousand births. The following year, in 2011, it was in the top 10 at #7 and rose again to #5 in 2012 and #4 in 2013 and 2014.  This rise not only coincides with the rise of the next wave of alternative Old Testament such as Noah and Isaac, replacing 90s hot favourites Daniel, Joshua, Samuel and the like, but it may also be in some consequence to the Twilight series.  Late 2009 saw the release of Twilight: New Moon, the second film in the series and one where Taylor Lautner's character Jacob Black really come to the fore in the heartthrob role. The film was a huge success, as was the following film in 2010. During this period, the name Bella also saw a marked increase in use, which further points to Twilight-influence.  In 2015, Jacob ranked #5 (4850 births) and Jake ranked #34 (2013 births) in England and Wales. In 2016, Jacob ranked #11 in Scotland (287 births) and #7 (173 births) in Northern Ireland.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Anund Jacob (b.c. 1008), King of Sweden. * Jacob van Maerlant (c. 1230/40 – c. 1288/1300), notable Flemish poet. * Jacob Cats (1577–1660), Dutch poet, humorist, jurist and politician. * Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682), Dutch painter.  * Jacob Hübner (1761–1826), German entomologist. * Jacob Grimm (1785–1863) , a German philologist, jurist, and mythologist. * Jacob Brønnum Scavenius Estrup (1825-1913), Danish Prime Minister. Contemporary: * Jacob "Jake" Gyllenhaal (b. 1980), American actor. * Jacob "Jake" Hoffman (b. 1981), American actor. Literature and Other Media: * Jacob Marley, character from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. * Jacob Black, werewolf character in the Twilight series. * Jacob Gallagher, character on TV soap Emmerdale. * Jacob "Jake" Moon, character on TV soap Eastenders.

Variants:

Jacques (French), Iago (Spanish, Welsh), Yago (Spanish), Giacobbe, Jacopo (Italian), Jakob (German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Dutch, Slovene), Jago (Cornish), Jaakob, Jaakoppi, Jaakko (Finnish), Jakov (Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian), Yakov (Russian), Jakub (Polish), Jacó (Portuguese)

Pronunciation:

JAY-kəb [key]

Possible diminutives:

Jake, Jakey, Coby, Jace

Sibling Names:

Eva     Sophie     Grace     Emily     Lily     Isabelle  Luke     Noah     Ethan     Oscar     Joseph     Samuel

Name Lists:

Terrifically Tudor   Gorgeously Georgian   Royal Names of Europe   Names from the Brontes   Dickensian Names

 

If you like Jacob you may also like:   Caleb, Joshua, Daniel, Lucas, Nathan, Joel, Matthew, Isaac, Benjamin, Reuben

Thanks to Freya for requesting this name.