Jake
Masculine · “From Jacob”
Jake is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 129,322 boys against 217 girls since 1880.
Jake is the short, hard-ending English form of Jacob, a name carried out of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, Latin and then every language of Christian Europe. English speakers have been clipping Jacob down to a single syllable since the Middle Ages, and the clipped version long ago stopped needing the long one — it stands on its own, on birth certificates and in classrooms. One syllable, four letters, and no one has to ask how it is spelled.
How old is the name Jake?
Jake was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Jake alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 115,000 people named Jake are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jake most popular?
Jake peaked in 2000, reaching #96 nationally. Today it ranks #457, 361 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Where it comes from
From Ya'aqov to Jake
The story of Jake
The root is Ya'aqov, one of the patriarchs of the Hebrew Bible. Greek translators wrote it Iakob, Latin turned that into Iacobus, and from Iacobus the medieval languages of Europe made Jacques, Giacomo, Jakob, Iago and English Jacob. English speakers then did what English does to long names and cut it down: Jake appears as an everyday short form in the medieval period, sitting alongside Jack in the same crowded corner of the name pool. It traveled with English wherever English went, and in the United States it eventually broke free of Jacob entirely, registered as a full given name in its own right.
Meaningscholars disagree
From Jacob — traditionally read as "heel-holder" or "supplanter"
Two serious readings compete. The book of Genesis links Ya'aqov to the Hebrew word for heel, from the account of Jacob born gripping his twin's heel, and from that comes the long-standing gloss "supplanter". Semitic scholars have also argued the name is a shortened theophoric form, something like "may God protect", with the heel story attached to it later. Both readings are old and both are still argued.
How the name formed
- Ya'aqov
- Iakob
- Iacobus
- Jacob
- Jake
Related forms: Jakob · Jacques · Giacomo · Jacobo · Jaap · Séamus
Pronouncing Jake
JAYK
One syllable, rhyming with lake. The spelling gives the sound away, so it survives phone calls and roll-call unharmed.
Nicknames for Jake
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 20044,473 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #96reached in 2000
- Change vs 2022
- −13.7%682 in 2025, from 790
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.
Jake in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jakob in German — related form
- Jacques in French — related form
- Giacomo in Italian — related form
- Jacobo in Spanish — related form
- Jaap in Dutch — related form
- Séamus in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Jakes among us
people named Jake are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,505 born in 2025 was named Jake
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 Mack test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jake's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mack climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mack's path sketches the road Jake is walking now.
Jake is coming down from a big peak (#96 in 2000). 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 Jake is headed
Jake is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Jake beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jake in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and phonetically transparent: almost no one mishears it or misspells it after hearing it once.
- Already a short form, so there is no pressure to shorten it further — the everyday name and the formal name are the same word.
- Recognized across the English-speaking world and connected to a name family found in nearly every European language.
- A documented English name since the medieval period, which keeps it from reading as a recent invention.
- People will often assume it is short for Jacob and reach for the longer name in formal settings. Worth deciding early whether you mind, or whether you would rather register Jacob and use Jake.
- It is short and blunt, which works against very short surnames. Jake Bell and Jake Cross land like two clipped syllables; longer surnames give it more room.
- It is more strongly represented among young adults than among newborns right now, so a Jake in kindergarten will likely be the only one in the room while sharing the name with plenty of people in their twenties.
- In older American and Australian slang, "jake" meant fine or all right, and "jake brake" is trucking vocabulary. Neither is unkind, and neither is likely to come up much.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Jake to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jake
Masculine · #457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jakes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 115,000 people named Jake are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jake in 2025?
- Jake ranks #457 among US boy names in 2025, with 682 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jake?
- About 1 in every 2,505 US boys born in 2025 was named Jake — 682 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jake with classmates?
- Jake will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jake
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Johnny#457 · Rocco#459 · Sage#455 · Pedro#455 · Oakley#454 · Reece#460 · Karson#453 · Esteban#461
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jake? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jake and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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