Isaac
Masculine · “He laughs”
Isaac is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 331,508 boys against 784 girls since 1880. See Isaac as a girl name
Isaac comes from the Hebrew Yitzhak, and the story attached to it in Genesis is about laughter — Sarah's, when she learned she would have a son in old age. The name has been read aloud in synagogues and churches for well over two thousand years, and it has been the working name of an English physicist knighted in the seventeenth century and of a Yiddish novelist who won the Nobel Prize. In the mouth it is two clean syllables, EYE-zik, with nothing to trip over.
How old is the name Isaac?
Isaac was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Isaac alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 300,000 people named Isaac are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Isaac most popular?
Isaac peaked in 2013, reaching #28 nationally. Today it ranks #47, 19 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yitzhak to Isaac
The story of Isaac
The name is Hebrew, Yitzhak, borne in the Book of Genesis by the son of Abraham and Sarah. The Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible wrote it Isaak, Latin took it as Isaac, and that Latin spelling is the one English has kept. Through Arabic it traveled separately as Ishaq, and it is a Quranic name as well as a biblical one. English-speaking use broadened sharply with the Reformation and the Puritan taste for Old Testament names, and Isaac has been in continuous use in English ever since.
Meaning
He laughs, or he will laugh
The Hebrew Yitzhak is built on the root ts-h-q, to laugh; Genesis ties the name directly to Sarah's laughter at the promise of a son.
Cultural footprint
Isaac Newton (b. 1643) — Gravity, calculus, the laws of motion
Isaac Asimov (b. 1920) — Sci-fi grandmaster of I, Robot and Foundation
Isaac Hayes (b. 1942) — Oscar-winning soul legend ("Theme from Shaft")
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Yitzhak
- Isaak
- Isaac
Related forms: Yitzhak · Ishaq · Isaac · Isacco · Isaak · Isaque
Pronouncing Isaac
EYE-zik
Standard in American English. Spanish and French speakers say roughly ee-SAHK or ee-ZAHK, and the Hebrew Yitzhak sounds quite different again — worth knowing if the family spans more than one language.
Nicknames for Isaac
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 200710,274 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #28reached in 2013
- Change vs 2022
- −11.8%5,953 in 2025, from 6,752
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Isaac in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yitzhak in Hebrew — transliteration
- Ishaq in Arabic — related form
- Isaac in Spanish — same name
- Isacco in Italian — same name
- Isaak in Russian — transliteration
- Isaque in Portuguese — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE, Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Isaacs among us
people named Isaac are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 287 born in 2025 was named Isaac
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Aaron test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Isaac's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aaron climbed just as high around 1994, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aaron's path sketches the road Isaac is walking now.
Isaac is coming down from a big peak (#28 in 2013). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Isaac is headed
Isaac should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Isaac beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Isaac in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A spelling almost everyone already knows on sight, with no competing variants to explain.
- Documented in continuous use for millennia, and it has never had to be revived.
- Works across borders: it charts in France, Canada, England and Wales, and Scotland, and needs no translation in Spanish or Portuguese.
- Has real short forms with history behind them — Ike, Izzy, Zac — without requiring any of them.
- Isaac and Isaiah are constantly mistaken for each other, and Issac is a very common transposition in writing. Expect to correct both.
- The biblical story is inseparable from the name. That is a pleasure for some families and a consideration for others.
- Izzy is shared with several popular girls' names, so if that is the nickname you love, it will not be his alone.
- It is a familiar name rather than a rare one, though a boy is unlikely to share a classroom with another.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Isaac
Masculine · #47 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Isaacs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300,000 people named Isaac are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Isaac in 2025?
- Isaac ranks #47 among US boy names in 2025, with 5,953 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Isaac?
- About 1 in every 287 US boys born in 2025 was named Isaac — 5,953 in all.
- Will my child share the name Isaac with classmates?
- Isaac will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Isaac
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Charles#48 · Anthony#46 · Carter#45 · Maverick#49 · Miles#44 · Thiago#50 · Jacob#43 · Grayson#51
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Isaac? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Isaac and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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