Yakov is a distinctive choice, ranked #1322 in 2024. Your child is likely to be the only Yakov in their class.
💎
UK Rank 2024
#1322
About the Name Yakov
Yakov is climbing rapidly up the charts, having climbed 613 places in just five years. Its best recorded rank was #1158 in 2011 — and current momentum suggests it could challenge that mark again. The name has been a consistent presence in UK records since 1997.
Yakov is distinctive enough that your child will likely be the only one in both their class and their school — standing out on every register.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the name Yakov
Unlikely. With around 20 UK babies named Yakov per year, your child will almost certainly be the only Yakov in his class, and possibly the only one in the whole school.
Yakov is currently rising in popularity in the UK, up 613 places over the last five years to #1322 in 2024. If this trend continues, it will become more common in classrooms over the next decade.
Yakov is a distinctive choice sitting outside the mainstream UK top names. Parents choosing less common names often find their children appreciate the individuality as they grow up, rarely needing to add an initial to distinguish themselves.
Notable people named Yakov include: Yakov Trenin — Yakov Vyacheslavovich Trenin is a Russian professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL).; Yakov Vinichenko — Yakov Ivanovich Vinichenko is a Soviet World War II veteran.; Yakov Eliashberg — Yakov Matveevich Eliashberg is an American mathematician who was born in Leningrad, USSR..
Yakov does not appear in the US top 1,000 baby names, making it a distinctively British choice — your child is unlikely to encounter American Yakovs in the wild.
20
UK babies named Yakov (2024)
< 1
Expected classmates with this name (class of 28)
~0.0
In a school of 600
↑ 613 places
Rank change (last 5 years)
🏫 Who else is in the room?
In a typical UK class of 28, highlighted children share the name Yakov
Likely around 1 other Yakov in the class
UK Popularity (1997–2024)
Rank and birth count · ONS official data
No US data available for this name
✨ Similar names to Yakov
Names with a similar style — each with their own classroom story
Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A key Bolshevik organizer of the October Revolution of 1917, Sverdlov served as chairman of the Secretariat of the Russian Communist Party from 1918 until his death in 1919, and as chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (head of state) from 1917 until his death in 1919.
Yakov Iosifovich Dzhugashvili was the eldest son of Joseph Stalin, and the only child of Stalin's first wife, Kato Svanidze, who died nine months after his birth. His father, then a young revolutionary in his late 20s, left the child to be raised by his late wife's family.
Yakov Springer was a wrestler and a weightlifting coach and judge but is best known as one of the victims of the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics. During the Holocaust, Springer took part in Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Yakov Grigorevich Sinai is a Russian–American mathematician known for his work on dynamical systems. He contributed to the modern metric theory of dynamical systems and connected the world of deterministic (dynamical) systems with the world of probabilistic (stochastic) systems.
Yakov Borisovich Belopolski (Russian: Яков Борисович Белопольский; Ukrainian: Яків Борисович Білопільський, romanized: Yakiv Borysovych Bilopilskyi) was a Soviet architect. Among other work, he was responsible for the design of the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park in Berlin.
Yakov Abramovich Chubin (Russian: Яков Абрамович Чубин) also known as Yakov Shub, served as the seventh first secretary of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR. His term began on 17 April 1937, following the resignation of Yakov Popok.