What is the meaning of the name Jacob?

Answer 1

Jacob (Iago, James) is from the Hebrew Ya'akov meaning "to follow."

The name refers to Jacob's birth when he held on to the heel of his older twin brother Esau (and eventually took his birthright).

Answer 2

Nothing. Jacob is just Jacob. The shortened version of it is Jake.

Answer:

He grasps the heel or he cheats, supplants.

Answer 3

Genesis 25:25-27 (New King James Version - NKJV)

25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. 27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.

Jacob means literally - "heel catcher" or "supplanter". God later changed his name to Israel, which means - "he will rule as God". - Genesis 32:28

ya'akov (יעקב) means "he will follow"

When Rebekah gave birth to her two sons, Esau emerged first and Jacob followed taking hold of his brothers heel (Genesis 25:26). He was called Jacob which means 'supplanter.' The name Jacob may either mean 'He who grasps at the heel (of another) or 'He (the Lord) is at his heels (is his protector).'

Answer 4

The name Jacob comes from the Hebrew verb (aqab) meaning take by the heel or supplant, and is a reference to the birth story in Genesis 25:26.

Undoubtedly the tradents who passed these stories down orally into the first millennium BCE needed prompts to help them to remember so much detail. Thus we have names such as Abraham: "Father of many", and Jacob: "Takes by the heel." The name also seems related to the verb meaning to supplant and could thus be given as "supplanter," thus a clever double prompt to the story of supplanting Esau as heir to Isaac.