Giacomo
The masculine Italian form of the name Jacob, meaning "supplanter" or "holder of the heel".
Name Census estimates that about 1,569 living Americans carry the first name Giacomo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Giacomo today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Giacomo births was 2006 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Giacomo. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 218,454 Americans
Peak year
2006
56 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,282
Tracked since 1912
Popularity
Giacomo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Giacomo from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 423 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Giacomo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Giacomo by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Giacomo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Giacomos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Giacomo, while Massachusetts, Illinois, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 99 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Giacomo
The name Giacomo has its roots in the Italian language and culture, with a long and rich history dating back centuries. It is the Italian form of the name James, derived from the late Latin name Iacomus, which in turn originated from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov.
Giacomo gained prominence as a personal name during the Middle Ages in Italy, particularly in regions such as Tuscany, Lombardy, and Veneto. It was often associated with individuals from noble or influential families, contributing to its widespread use across the country.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Giacomo can be found in the writings of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who lived from 1265 to 1321. In his renowned work, the Divine Comedy, Dante mentions a character named Giacomo da Sant'Andrea, indicating the name's use during that era.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Giacomo. One of the most famous was Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798), the infamous Italian adventurer and author renowned for his memoirs detailing his amorous exploits across Europe. Another prominent figure was Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), the celebrated Italian composer who created masterpieces such as La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly.
In the realm of art, Giacomo Balla (1871-1958) was an influential Italian painter and sculptor, known as a key figure in the Futurist movement. The name Giacomo was also associated with religious figures, such as Giacomo della Marca (1394-1476), an Italian Franciscan preacher and theologian who was later canonized as a saint.
The name Giacomo has also been carried by influential philosophers and thinkers, such as Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837), an Italian poet, philosopher, and scholar renowned for his works exploring human suffering and the human condition.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals who have borne the name Giacomo throughout history, highlighting its enduring presence and cultural significance within the Italian tradition.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Giacomo
People
Giacomo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Giacomo as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Giacomo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Giacomo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,569 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Giacomo going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 218,454 US residents.
Is Giacomo a common name?
We classify Giacomo as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,847 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Giacomo most popular?
The single biggest year for Giacomo was 2006, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Giacomo is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Giacomo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Giacomo in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.