Jacob
The English spelling of Jakub, Hebrew at root: "holder of the heel". It peaked in the 2010s and has been fading since, now rare enough that most Poles will never meet one.
Jacob Pronunciation
Jacob is pronounced YAH-tsop (/ˈjat͡sɔp/).
What Jacob means
Where Jacob comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Jacob comes from Hebrew, from Ya'aqov. In the Book of Genesis the child is born gripping his twin brother's heel, and readers took the name to mean holder of the heel. The sense of supplanter was attached later, once Jacob had taken the birthright that his brother Esau let slip. That second meaning follows the story.
In English-speaking countries the name spread through the Bible and settled in for good. Jacob sat at the top of the boys' names in the United States for more than a decade after 1999. Popularity like that marks a whole generation of classrooms.
In Polish the name becomes Jakub, and the short form is Kuba. A boy can answer to Kuba for years before a teacher first reads Jakub aloud from the class register on the first day of school. Same person, two registers of one name. Behind both stands the old sense, holder of the heel.
How many people are named Jacob
1 in 7583 men in Poland is named Jacob. 2,815 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #609 among male names.
Jacob's popularity over time
14 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #611 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2020. Still the #609 name among living men, even as it slips to #611 among newborns.
Where parents choose Jacob
Jacob is most popular in Silesian, 134% above the national average (18 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Holy Cross (+60%) and Pomeranian (+41%). It is least common in Łódź and Kuyavian-Pomeranian, 53% and 46% below average respectively.
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Silesian
+134%1 in 12,644 babies
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Holy Cross
+60%1 in 18,478 babies
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Pomeranian
+41%1 in 21,046 babies
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Łódź
−53%1 in 63,359 babies
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian
−46%1 in 54,690 babies
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Masovian
−42%1 in 50,609 babies
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Silesian+134% 18 born1 in 12,644 babies+134%
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Holy Cross+60% 3 born1 in 18,478 babies+60%
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Pomeranian+41% 7 born1 in 21,046 babies+41%
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Greater Poland+38% 10 born1 in 21,524 babies+38%
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Lower Silesian+32% 7 born1 in 22,448 babies+32%
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Lesser Poland+30% 10 born1 in 22,692 babies+30%
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Lubusz+19% 2 born1 in 24,829 babies+19%
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Warmian-Masurian−18% 2 born1 in 35,897 babies−18%
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Subcarpathian−26% 3 born1 in 40,188 babies−26%
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Masovian−42% 7 born1 in 50,609 babies−42%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−46% 2 born1 in 54,690 babies−46%
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Łódź−53% 2 born1 in 63,359 babies−53%
Jacob as a middle name
Jacob is a first name for 2,815 men in Poland and a middle name for another 911, a 76/24 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 235th, between Rafael (918) and Werner (910).
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#233 Eligiusz949
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#234 Rafael918
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#235 Jacob911
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#236 Werner910
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#237 Ali902