Jacoba
A feminine form of Jacob, meaning "supplanter" or "one who grasps the heel".
Name Census estimates that about 139 living Americans carry the first name Jacoba. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jacoba today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jacoba births was 1921 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jacoba. 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
139
~ 1 in 2,465,859 Americans
Peak year
1921
17 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2023 SSA rank
#16,133
Tracked since 1900
Census
Jacoba in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 783 people with the first name Jacoba, which placed it at #14,879 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,879
National first-name rank
People counted
783
783 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jacoba
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacoba is White at 45.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (42.0%) and Black (5.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Jacoba described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Jacoba at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.3% · 355
- Hispanic or Latino42.0% · 329
- Black or African American5.9% · 46
- Two or more races4.0% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Popularity
Jacoba: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jacoba from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 65 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jacoba 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 Jacoba during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jacoba
Jacoba is a feminine given name derived from the Hebrew name Jacob, meaning "supplanter" or "one who follows". It originated in the Middle Ages as a Dutch and Low German variant of the Biblical name Jacob.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jacoba dates back to the 12th century in the Low Countries, where it was commonly used among Dutch and Flemish populations. It was particularly popular among the nobility and upper classes during this time.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Jacoba of Bavaria (1401-1436), also known as Jacqueline of Hainault. She was a Countess of Holland, Zeeland, and Hainault, and played a significant role in the political struggles of the Low Countries during the late medieval period.
Another prominent figure with the name Jacoba was Jacoba van Beieren (1416-1469), a Dutch noblewoman who served as the Duchess of Gloucester and Countess of Hainault, Holland, and Zeeland. She was a influential figure in the Wars of the Roses in England.
In the 16th century, the name Jacoba was used by Jacoba van Hessen (1516-1567), a Dutch princess and Countess of Hanau-Münzenberg. She played a notable role in the introduction of the Protestant Reformation in her territories.
During the 17th century, Jacoba Maria van Aerssen (1644-1720) was a Dutch noblewoman and art collector who lived in Delft. She was known for her extensive collection of paintings, which included works by notable Dutch masters.
In the 18th century, Jacoba Cornelia Buchholz (1748-1824) was a Dutch artist known for her still-life paintings and portraits. She was a member of the prestigious Confrerie Pictura, an artist society in The Hague.
While the name Jacoba was primarily used in the Low Countries and among Dutch populations during its earlier history, it has since spread to other regions and cultures, particularly in the English-speaking world, where variations such as Jacoba, Jakoba, and Jacobina have been used.
People
Jacoba + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jacoba as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jacoba: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jacoba?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 139 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jacoba 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 2,465,859 US residents.
Is Jacoba a common name?
We classify Jacoba as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 296 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jacoba most popular?
The single biggest year for Jacoba was 1921, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jacoba is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jacoba in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 783 people with the name Jacoba, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,879 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Jacoba in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Jacoba?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jacoba leans strongly female. 748 people counted with this name were female (95.9%), compared with 32 male bearers (4.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Jacoba?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jacoba is White at 45.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (42.0%) and Black (5.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Jacoba most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jacoba in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.3% (355 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Jacoba in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jacoba a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jacoba in the SSA data are female. 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.
Is Jacoba still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jacoba in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Jacoba can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people share the name Jacoba?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.