Meaning & Origin
The son of Yitzhak and Rivka, twin brother of Esav, and patriarch of the Jews.
Yaakov is a boy's baby name of Hebrew origin, the original Hebrew form of Jacob, from the Hebrew Ya'akov meaning "holder of the heel" or "supplanter," so named because Jacob was born grasping his twin brother Esau's heel. Jacob later became Israel, patriarch of the twelve tribes.
Yaakov is used within Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities as the traditional Hebrew pronunciation of this foundational name. It connects a child directly to the patriarch who wrestled with the angel and gave his name to an entire nation — a name of enormous spiritual and historical weight.