Jacobi is a form of Jacob, the Hebrew name that means "supplanter" or "holder of the heel", after the patriarch who was born grasping his twin brother's heel. The -i ending comes from the Latin genitive Jacobi and from the surname of the same spelling. In the United States Jacobi peaked at number 1017 in 2008, just outside the top 1000, and ranks number 2318 in 2025.