Yaqoob
Derived from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov, it signifies "supplanter" or "holder of the heel".
Name Census estimates that about 72 living Americans carry the first name Yaqoob. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yaqoob today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yaqoob births was 2016 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yaqoob. 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 Yaqoob with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yaqoob. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
72
~ 1 in 4,760,477 Americans
Peak year
2016
10 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,244
Tracked since 2009
Popularity
Yaqoob: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yaqoob 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 45 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yaqoob remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yaqoob 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 Yaqoob 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 Yaqoob
The given name Yaqoob is derived from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov, which means "supplanter" or "one who follows". It is the name of the biblical patriarch Jacob, who was later called Israel. The name has its origins in ancient Middle Eastern cultures and is found in various religious texts and historical records.
Yaqoob is the Arabic form of the name, originating in the 7th century CE. It gained popularity among Muslims due to its association with the prophet Jacob, who is revered in Islam as a messenger of God. The name is mentioned in the Qur'an and is widely used in the Arab world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yaqoob can be found in the Bible's Book of Genesis, which narrates the life of Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebecca. Jacob played a significant role in the stories of the Israelites and is considered one of the three patriarchs of the Jewish faith.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Yaqoob. One of the most famous is Yaqoob bin Laith as-Saffar (839-900 CE), the founder of the Saffarid dynasty, which ruled in parts of modern-day Iran and Afghanistan. Another prominent individual was Yaqoob bin Killis (930-991 CE), a Egyptian vizier and scholar during the Fatimid Caliphate.
In the 12th century, Yaqoob al-Mansur (1160-1199 CE) was the third Sultan of the Almohad Caliphate in North Africa and Spain. He is known for his military conquests and the construction of the famous Giralda tower in Seville, Spain.
Yaqoob Laith Safi (1671-1716 CE) was a Persian poet and scholar who wrote under the pen name Safi. He is renowned for his contributions to Persian literature and his mastery of the ghazal poetic form.
In more recent times, Yaqoob Khan (1920-2005) was a prominent Pakistani diplomat and served as the country's Foreign Minister in the 1970s. He played a crucial role in the diplomatic efforts during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
People
Yaqoob + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yaqoob 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
Yaqoob: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yaqoob?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 72 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yaqoob 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 4,760,477 US residents.
Is Yaqoob a common name?
We classify Yaqoob as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 73 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yaqoob most popular?
The single biggest year for Yaqoob was 2016, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yaqoob is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Yaqoob in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yaqoob a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yaqoob 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 Yaqoob still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yaqoob 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 Yaqoob 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Yaqoob?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Yaqoob, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.