Iago
Fewer than a hundred Polish men carry it, and no boys have taken it in years: most people here have never met an Iago. It's Hebrew at root, meaning "supplanter", the one held back by the heel.
Iago Pronunciation
Iago is pronounced YAH-go (/ˈjagɔ/).
What Iago means
Where Iago comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Iago traces back to the Hebrew Ya'aqov, the root that also gave us Jacob and James. The short meaning is "supplanter", tied to the story of a twin born gripping his brother's heel. Held by the heel: that is the image the name keeps.
The form itself is Spanish and Galician, old and unmistakable on the peninsula. It hides inside Santiago, the pilgrimage city, where Sant Iago means Saint James. Walkers have followed the road to his shrine for centuries.
Shakespeare handed the name to the villain of Othello, and English readers have flinched at it since. Spanish speakers hear the apostle instead. In a Polish class register today, Iago stands out at once, a Spanish import among the Jakubs. The literal sense holds: wypierający, the one held by the heel.
How many people are named Iago
1 in 224697 men in Poland is named Iago. 95 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #3564 among male names.