According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Jacoby saw an impressive increase in usage in the early 2000s:
- 2009: 630 baby boys named Jacoby [rank: 444th]
- 2008: 691 baby boys named Jacoby [rank: 423rd] (peak usage)
- 2007: 395 baby boys named Jacoby [rank: 622nd]
- 2006: 210 baby boys named Jacoby [rank: 914th]
- 2005: 202 baby boys named Jacoby [rank: 892nd]
Variants of the name (like Jacobi, Jakoby, and Jakobi) also became more popular in 2007 and 2008.
And the name saw another uptick in usage in 2013.
Why?
Both the initial rise and the subsequent uptick were due to the very same thing: baseball player Jacoby Ellsbury.
Jacoby (pronounced jah-KOH-bee) was a member of the Boston Red Sox when the team won the World Series in both 2007 (his rookie year) and 2013.
It’s interesting to see just how much of the initial rise happened specifically in the state of Massachusetts (home to a little more than 2% of the total U.S. population):
- 2009: 42 boys (7%) named Jacoby in MA
- 2008: 74 boys (11%) named Jacoby in MA
- 2007: 21 boys (5%) named Jacoby in MA [state debut]
- 2006: none
- 2005: none
Do you like the name Jacoby?
Source: Jacoby Ellsbury – Wikipedia
Do we know why Jacoby Ellsbury was given the name Jacoby? I ask because he was born in 1983, the same year the Redskins won the Super Bowl and Joe Jacoby was one of the big names on that team — he was one of the “Hogs”.
I’ve done a bit of searching, but, so far, I haven’t spotted any info on the origin of his first name.
That’s an interesting theory, though!