Yakub
A masculine Arabic name meaning "he will follow" or "supplanter".
Name Census estimates that about 115 living Americans carry the first name Yakub. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yakub today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yakub births was 2015 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yakub. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Yakub with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
115
~ 1 in 2,980,473 Americans
Peak year
2015
11 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,918
Tracked since 2004
Census
Yakub in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 291 people with the first name Yakub, which placed it at #30,113 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
#30,113
National first-name rank
People counted
291
291 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
36.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yakub
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yakub is Black at 36.8%. The next largest groups are White (31.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (26.1%). 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 Yakub 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 Yakub at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American36.8% · 107
- White31.6% · 92
- Asian and Pacific Islander26.1% · 76
- Two or more races4.8% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
Popularity
Yakub: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yakub from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 67 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yakub remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yakub 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 Yakub 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 Yakub
The name Yakub has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov, which means "supplanter" or "one who follows on another's heels." The name is closely associated with the biblical figure Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites and the son of Isaac and Rebekah.
Yakub appears prominently in the Book of Genesis, one of the most well-known religious scriptures in the Abrahamic faiths. The book recounts the story of Jacob, who was later given the name Israel by God after wrestling with an angel. Jacob's life and struggles are central to the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, making the name Yakub a significant part of Judeo-Christian tradition.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Yakub was Yakub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, an Arab philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who lived in the 9th century CE (801-873 CE). He is regarded as one of the first great Islamic philosophers and is often referred to as "the Philosopher of the Arabs."
In the 12th century, Yakub ibn Laith al-Saffar was a powerful ruler of the Saffarid dynasty in Persia. He ruled from 865 to 900 CE and is known for his military conquests and expansion of the Saffarid Empire.
Yakub Beg, a military commander and ruler of the Mughal Empire in India, lived in the 16th century (1545-1605 CE). He played a significant role in the campaigns of the Mughal emperor Akbar and is known for his contributions to the consolidation of the Mughal Empire.
Yakub Khan was a prominent Afghan ruler and military leader in the 19th century (1820-1898 CE). He served as the Emir of Afghanistan from 1879 to 1880 and is remembered for his efforts to modernize and strengthen the Afghan state.
Yakub Kolas, a Belarusian poet and writer, lived from 1882 to 1956 CE. He is considered one of the most influential figures in Belarusian literature and played a crucial role in the development of the Belarusian cultural identity.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Yakub, reflecting its deep roots and significance across various cultures and time periods.
People
Yakub + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yakub as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yakub: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yakub?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 115 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yakub 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 2,980,473 US residents.
Is Yakub a common name?
We classify Yakub as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 116 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yakub most popular?
The single biggest year for Yakub was 2015, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yakub is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yakub in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 291 people with the name Yakub, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,113 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 Yakub 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 Yakub?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yakub leans strongly male. 291 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 5 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Yakub?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yakub is Black at 36.8%. The next largest groups are White (31.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (26.1%). 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 Yakub most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Yakub in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.8% (107 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 Yakub in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yakub a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yakub 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.
Is Yakub still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yakub 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 Yakub 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 Yakub?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.