Jacobo
A Spanish and Italian form of Jacob, ultimately meaning “supplanter” in Hebrew.
The #3,105 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,639 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Jacobo is a Romance form of the biblical name Jacob, passed through Latin and Greek from Hebrew Ya‘aqov. The traditional Hebrew sense is often given as “supplanter,” from the Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau. In Spanish and Italian it became a given name first, and only secondarily could be used as a surname derived from an ancestor’s personal name.
History
The name spread through Christian Europe because of the fame of the biblical patriarch and, in Iberia, through devotion to St. James/Jacob traditions. As a surname, Jacobo is comparatively uncommon and is most likely patronymic, formed from a forebear’s given name rather than from a place or occupation. Modern U.S. bearers are likely to reflect Hispanic or Italian family lines, though the surname is rare enough that individual origins may vary.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same biblical root produced a remarkable family of European forms, including Spanish Diego and Santiago, Italian Jacopo, French Jacot, and Latin Jacobus.
From the historical record
“2G9 St. Hilar V, 2S6 St. Jacobo, Pe, 294 St. J.itnes, 20-t St. Joanne, De, 3SS St. John, Do, 308 SU Julian, 238 St. Laud, Do, 78,”
— The Norman People and their existing descendants in the British dominions and the United States