Jacob (name)

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Jacob Given Name
Isaac Blessing Jacob, Govert Flinck, 1638. The name Jacob comes from the Biblical story of Jacob's birth where he came out holding the heal of his twin broth Esau.
Pronunciation	/dʒeɪkʊb/
Gender	Male
Meaning	"holds the heel"
Origin	derived from Late Latin Iacobus, from Greek Iakobos, from Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (Yaʿqob, Yaʿaqov, Yaʿăqōḇ)
Wikipedia articles	All pages beginning with Jacob

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Jacob is a common male first name and a less well-known surname. Since 1999 and through 2006, Jacob has been the most popular baby name for newborn boys in United States. It is a cognate of James.

Jacob is derived from Late Latin Iacobus, from Greek Iakobos, from Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (Yaʿqob, Yaʿaqov, Yaʿăqōḇ), the name of the Hebrew patriarch, Jacob son of Isaac. It is a speaking name, referring to the circumstances of Jacob's birth, meaning "holds the heel" (from the Hebrew root עקב ʿqb "heel"; literally, it is a finite verb formed from this root, and would translate to something like "he heeled"), since he held on to the heel to his twin brother Esau inside Rebekah's womb. In a Christian context, the name is also associated with the apostles James, son of Zebedee; James the Just, brother of Jesus, who led the original Christian community in Jerusalem; and James, son of Alphaeus, who was the object of great veneration in the European Middle Ages, notably at Santiago de Compostela.