Jacobi
A surname meaning “son of Jacob” or “belonging to Jacob,” found especially in German- and Jewish-associated naming traditions.
The #9,161 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 86,653 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Jacobi is the Latin genitive form of Jacobus, meaning “of Jacob” or “Jacob’s.” As a surname, it usually began as a patronymic, identifying someone as the son or descendant of a man named Jacob. In German-speaking areas and among Jewish families, Latinized forms like Jacobi were common in records and scholarship.
History
The name appears in medieval records as a Latinized byname and later as a hereditary surname, especially in German and Jewish contexts. Historical surname dictionaries list related forms such as Jacob, Jacobs, Jacobson, and Jacoby, showing how widely the underlying personal name spread across Europe. In Britain and North America, Jacobi is less common than Jacob or Jacobs but was carried by immigrant families and preserved in standardized spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Latin records often used Jacobi where modern English would simply say “of Jacob,” so the same root can appear in several different surname shapes.
From the historical record
“ibid. p. i& 1566. Buried— oior Jacobi Heytcye : Reg. Frenbncj, co. CheL, p. 3L. 1377. - AnueHealye: Aid p. 37. looi — IiarnTMHcaleTe:ibid.&. 144.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances