Find out how popular the last name Jakob is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Jakob.

Jakob, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Jakob surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Jakob in America

Jakob is the 26695th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Jakob surname appeared 912 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Jakob.

We can also compare 2010 data for Jakob to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Jakob

The surname Jakob has its origins in Germany, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the Middle Ages around the 12th century. The name is derived from the Hebrew biblical name "Jacob," which means "supplanter" or "one who follows."

Jakob was a common given name in Germanic regions during the medieval period, and it eventually became adopted as a surname. The transition from a given name to a surname was a gradual process that occurred as populations grew and surnames became necessary for identification purposes.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Jakob can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of historical documents from Saxony, Germany. In this manuscript, a man named Johannes Jakob is mentioned in a document dated 1270.

The surname Jakob also appears in various local records and chronicles throughout the later medieval and early modern periods. For example, in the Stadtbuch von Lübeck (City Book of Lübeck), a merchant named Hans Jakob is listed in the year 1416.

Over the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the surname Jakob. One of the earliest was Johann Jakob, a German astronomer and mathematician born in 1555. He is known for his contributions to the study of comets and for his work on the Julian calendar reform.

Another famous bearer of the surname was Ludovico Jakob, an Italian painter and architect who lived from 1597 to 1669. He was a prominent figure in the Baroque art movement and is best known for his frescoes in various churches in Rome and Naples.

In the 18th century, Johann Georg Jakob, a German philosopher and theologian (1668-1744), made significant contributions to the study of ethics and moral philosophy. His work influenced later thinkers such as Immanuel Kant.

In the field of science, Carl Wilhelm Jakob (1804-1892) was a German botanist and naturalist who made important discoveries in plant taxonomy and classification.

Moving into the 20th century, Max Jakob (1879-1955) was a German engineer and physicist who made significant contributions to the study of heat transfer and fluid mechanics.

The surname Jakob has also been associated with various place names throughout Germany and other German-speaking regions. For instance, the town of Jakobsdorf in Saxony, Germany, is believed to have derived its name from an early settler named Jakob.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Jakob

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Jakob.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Jakob was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Jakob has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Jakob was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Jakob, please contact us.

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