Jakub
This Slavic name carries an old meaning: supplanter, the one who holds the heel. It sits at number 17 among Polish boys today, familiar enough that most people know several.
Jakub Pronunciation
Jakub is pronounced YAH-koop (/ˈjakup/).
What Jakub means
Where Jakub comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Jakub belongs to the family of Slavic names common in Poland. The meaning that follows it, holder of the heel, in English supplanter, comes from an old story of twins, one of them born gripping the other's heel. That sense was attached to the name long before it settled into its Polish spelling.
The name lives in more than one shape. Jakub is the full form. Kuba is what the same boy answers to among friends, warmer and shorter. Jakob is the variant that leans toward the German spelling, still the same name underneath.
Call the register in a Polish classroom and a Jakub or two will answer. On the 25th of July the calendar marks his imieniny, the feast of Saint James the Apostle, and Kuba gets his slice of cake. The name has meant supplanter, the one who holds the heel.
How many people are named Jakub
1 in 50 men in Poland is named Jakub. 430,519 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #17 among male names.
Jakub's popularity over time
3,386 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #14 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000.
Where Jakub is most popular
Jakub is most popular in Podlaskie, 18% above the national average (1,399 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Subcarpathian (+14%) and Lesser Poland (+12%). It is least common in Greater Poland and Lubusz, 20% and 13% below average respectively.
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Podlaskie1,399 boys born+18%
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Subcarpathian2,468 boys born+14%
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Lesser Poland4,577 boys born+12%
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Silesian4,569 boys born+12%
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Lublin2,048 boys born+11%
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Świętokrzyskie1,101 boys born+10%
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Opole899 boys born+8%
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Łódź2,293 boys born+1%
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Lower Silesian2,831 boys born0%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian1,905 boys born−3%
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Warmian-Masurian1,217 boys born−6%
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West Pomeranian1,418 boys born−7%
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Masovian5,882 boys born−8%
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Pomeranian2,390 boys born−10%
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Lubusz781 boys born−13%
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Greater Poland3,102 boys born−20%
Jakub as a middle name
Jakub is a first name for 430,519 men in Poland and a middle name for another 137,852, a 76/24 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 22nd, between Marian (145,747) and Zbigniew (133,181).
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20
145,791Franciszek
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21
145,747Marian
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22137,852Jakub
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23
133,181Zbigniew
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24
129,369Robert
When Jakub celebrates name day
Jakub appears 8 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 9 February.