Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Jacob was most popular in 1998, when 36,091 American babies were given the name — ranking #2 that year. In 2025 it ranked #72, with 6,152 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 990,532 people named Jacob.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Jacob is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 146 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 990,532 American births named Jacob between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 929,488 are estimated to be alive today.
6,152 American babies were named Jacob in 2025, ranking #72 that year.
Jacob is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 7,180 births a year, against 18,150 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -60% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Jacob is a boy’s name — 0.2% of the 990,532 Americans given it were girls and 99.8% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 0% girls and 100% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 929,488 Americans named Jacob are alive today — 94% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 26 years old, and half are between 18 and 34.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Hebrew · "holder of the heel", hence "supplanter"
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Jacob on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org