Jakobi
Masculine · “supplanter”
Jakobi is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,650 boys against 45 girls since 1880.
Jakobi is Jacob with an -i, and the Hebrew behind it is a heel — Jacob was born holding his twin's, and the name records the grip.
How old is the name Jakobi?
Jakobi first appears in US birth records in 1993 — 32 years ago. The typical Jakobi is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,600 people named Jakobi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jakobi most popular?
Jakobi peaked in 2022, reaching #1180 nationally. Today it ranks #1654, 474 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yaakov to Jakobi
The story of Jakobi
Jacob wrestles the angel, is renamed Israel, and fathers the twelve tribes. The name has never left European use, and the Latin Jacobi is its genitive — 'of Jacob'. American families produced Jakobi and Jacobi as given names from the 1990s, part of the wider -i ending fashion. It is in current use.
Meaning
supplanter, heel-holder
Through Jacob, from the Hebrew Yaakov, connected in Genesis to aqev, 'heel' — the twin born gripping his brother's. He later takes Esau's birthright, which the narrative treats as the name fulfilled. The Hebrew is ordinary and the connection is made in the text itself.
How the name formed
- Yaakov
- Jacobus
- Jakobi
Related forms: Jacobi · Jakob · Yaakov
Pronouncing Jakobi
juh-KOH-bee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Jakobi and Jacobi are said identically.
Nicknames for Jakobi
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
- 1993
- Most boys named
- 2022173 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1180reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −9.0%101 in 2025, from 111
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.
Jakobi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jacobi in English — spelling variant
- Jakob in German — related form
- Yaakov in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Georgia, North Carolina, Texas.
Jakobis among us
people named Jakobi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 16,912 born in 2025 was named Jakobi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Jakobi
- #1654
- Jakobi on the 2025 chart
- #630
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Jakobi went to 101 boys in 2025, but Jacoby, Jacobi and Jakoby are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 314, which makes it the 630th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,024 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 5,440 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 16,912 for Jakobi itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Merril test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jakobi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Merril climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Merril's path sketches the road Jakobi is walking now.
Jakobi sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Jakobi is headed
Jakobi should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Jakobi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jakobi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Jacob story behind it is one of the most vivid in Genesis.
- Jake and Kobi are two short forms at very different registers.
- Three syllables with a strong middle, a rhythm that carries well.
- Jacobi is the commoner spelling and is also a German surname.
- Jacob is far commoner and will be assumed.
- The k will need dictating.
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What they receive
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Jakobi
Masculine · #1654 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jakobis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Jakobi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Jakobi?
- Jakobi is one of 4 recorded spellings. Jacoby is the more common one — 126 births in 2025 against 101 for Jakobi.
- How popular is the name Jakobi in 2025?
- Jakobi ranks #1654 among US boy names in 2025, with 101 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jakobi?
- About 1 in every 16,912 US boys born in 2025 was named Jakobi — 101 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jakobi with classmates?
- Jakobi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jakobi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Johnpaul#1654 · Kent#1654 · Sky#1654 · Kycen#1654 · Truth#1654 · Ervin#1654 · Cortez#1654 · Bennet#1654
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jakobi? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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