Jake
A rare name in Poland: about 145 men carry it, and few Poles will ever meet one. Jake is the English short form of Jacob, from a Greek name meaning "supplanter", literally one who grasps the heel.
Jake Pronunciation
Jake is pronounced YAH-ke (/ˈjakɛ/).
What Jake means
Where Jake comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Jacob traveled into English through the Greek Iakobos, which stood in for the Hebrew Yaakov. Jake grew out of Jacob as its short form. The meaning fixed to the name is "supplanter", the one who grasps the heel. That image comes from a birth story of twins, where the younger brother held the elder by the foot as they were born.
By the Middle Ages, Jake worked as an ordinary English name. It grew common enough to drift toward the general word for a man. Later English usage brought it back as a first name in its own right, printed on birth records instead of hiding behind Jacob. A boy on a Polish class register today might sign as Jake and answer to it fully.
The name stays plain and short. Its meaning still points back to that grip on the heel, and to Jacob standing behind it.
How many people are named Jake
1 in 147215 men in Poland is named Jake. 145 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2699 among male names.
Jake's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Jake as a middle name
Jake is a first name for 145 men in Poland and a middle name for another 49, a 75/25 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1079th, between Hakan (49) and Kleofas (49).
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#1077 Hadrian49
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#1078 Hakan49
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#1079 Jake49
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#1080 Kleofas49
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#1081 Lloyd49