Jacque
Feminine · “one who follows at the heel”
Jacque is given to both — 4,888 girls and 2,425 boys since 1880. See Jacque as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Jacque is Jacques with the silent s taken off, and in Louisiana that is not a respelling so much as a local convention. French names have been in continuous American use there for three hundred years, spelled by families rather than by academies, and the s at the end of Jacques is silent in French anyway.
How old is the name Jacque?
Jacque first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Jacque alive today was born around 1958, making them about 67 years old. About 3,800 people named Jacque are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jacque most popular?
Jacque peaked in 1950, reaching #539 nationally. See the whole 1950 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yaakov to Jacque
The story of Jacque
Louisiana French is a living tradition rather than a historical curiosity, and it has kept a stock of French given names in American use that would otherwise have disappeared: Jacque, Aimee, Andre, Emile, Odette. The spellings drift because they are transmitted within families rather than through French schooling, and dropping a silent letter is the most ordinary drift there is. Jacque is the result, and its regional concentration in the record is the clearest evidence of where it comes from.
Meaningscholars disagree
one who follows at the heel
Jacques is the French form of Jacob, from Hebrew Yaakov, by way of Latin Iacobus and its late form Iacomus — which is where the m in James comes from. The traditional reading takes the name from the word for a heel, on the strength of the Genesis story about the twins; an alternative reads it as a shortened sentence name about God protecting. Neither has won and the chain of forms is documented regardless.
How the name formed
- Yaakov
- Iacomus
- Jacques
- Jacque
Related forms: Jacques · Jaime · Giacomo
Pronouncing Jacque
ZHAHK
ZHAHK, one syllable, in French and in Louisiana — the j is soft and the final consonant hard. American readers outside that tradition often say JAK-wee or JAK, treating the name as English. The one-syllable French reading is the correct one and the least likely to be guessed.
Nicknames for Jacque
Moderate
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 1951172 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #539reached in 1950
- Change vs 2001
- −12.5%7 in 2004, from 8
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.
Jacque in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jacques in French — same name
- Jaime in Spanish — related form
- Giacomo in Italian — related form
Jacques among us
people named Jacque are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Jacque sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It has a documented Louisiana French tradition behind it rather than being a modern respelling.
- One syllable, which fits any surname without crowding.
- The name behind it is one of the most widely used in Europe and needs no translation there.
- Outside Louisiana it is read as English and mispronounced almost every time.
- Jacques is the standard French spelling and this will be corrected toward it.
- It goes to girls as well in American records, so on a form it settles less than it appears to.
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What they receive
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Jacque
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Jacques are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,800 people named Jacque are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jacque in 2025?
- Jacque is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Jacque with classmates?
- Jacque will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
Jennifer#586 · Jessica#665 · Janet#2778 · Julie#872 · Joyce#1071 · Joan#1085 · Julia#131 · Jean#2117
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jacque? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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