Jobe
Masculine · “the persecuted one”
Jobe is Job with an e, and the e is doing real work: without it English readers say the ordinary word for employment. The name underneath belongs to the man in the Hebrew Bible who loses everything and argues with God about it, and its American peak in 1887 sits in the middle of the great era of Old Testament naming.
How old is the name Jobe?
Jobe first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Jobe alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 1,100 people named Jobe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jobe most popular?
Jobe peaked in 1887, reaching #819 nationally. Today it ranks #5861, 5,042 places below that high. See the whole 1887 chart.
Where it comes from
From Iyyov to Jobe
The story of Jobe
The Book of Job is one of the oldest and strangest texts in the Hebrew Bible: a wager, a series of disasters, forty chapters of argument, and a divine answer that answers nothing directly. Its central figure gave English the phrase 'the patience of Job', which is a summary the book does not really support. English-speaking Protestants took the name up after the Reformation, and American use was strongest in the nineteenth century. The e-spelling appears in American records alongside the bare Job and solves a practical problem: Job and job are spelled identically, and only the added e forces the long vowel.
Meaningscholars disagree
the persecuted one; or 'where is the father?'
Hebrew Iyyov has never been securely explained. One reading connects it to a root meaning to hate or to be hostile, giving 'the hated' or 'the persecuted one' — appropriate to the story. Another reads it as a question, ayyo-ab, 'where is the father?', a name type attested elsewhere in the ancient Near East. A third derives it from an Arabic root meaning to return or repent. All three are seriously proposed and none has won.
How the name formed
- Iyyov
- Iob
- Job
- Jobe
Related forms: Iyov · Ayyub · Job · Job
Pronouncing Jobe
JOHB
One syllable, rhyming with robe, with a long o. The added e exists precisely to force that vowel; without it, English readers produce the ordinary word for employment, which rhymes with rob.
Nicknames for Jobe
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 200639 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #819reached in 1887
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%15 in 2025, from 15
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.
Jobe in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Iyov in Hebrew — related form
- Ayyub in Arabic — related form
- Job in English — spelling variant
- Job in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Jobes among us
people named Jobe are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 113,872 born in 2025 was named Jobe
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Jobe 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
Jobe beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jobe in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The e removes the collision with the everyday word, which the bare spelling cannot.
- It is short, memorable and has one of the most substantial books of the Bible behind it.
- The Arabic Ayyub is the same figure, which gives the name reach across two traditions.
- The e will be dropped by many people writing from dictation, restoring the collision.
- The Hebrew name's meaning is genuinely unresolved.
- The story attached to it is one of suffering, which some families weigh.
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Jobe
Masculine · #5861 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jobes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Jobe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jobe in 2025?
- Jobe ranks #5861 among US boy names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jobe?
- About 1 in every 113,872 US boys born in 2025 was named Jobe — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jobe with classmates?
- Jobe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jobe
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eber#5861 · Wilton#5861 · Ruby#5861 · Stacy#5861 · Garner#5861 · Caldwell#5861 · Severin#5861 · Newton#5861
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jobe? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jobe and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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