Jacques
/ʒɑːk/noun
A French masculine given name, the French form of James or Jacob.
Did you know?Jacques ultimately comes from the same Hebrew root as Jacob, the name tied in Genesis to the story of grasping a heel, a detail that later fed centuries of symbolic interpretation.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Hebrew
Hebrew
Yaʿaqōv
“Jacob; traditionally linked to “heel” and the idea of following or supplanting.”
Greek
Greek
Iakōbos
“A Greek form of Jacob, used in Jewish and early Christian contexts.”
Latin
Latin
Iacobus
“Jacob; later also used for James in Christian Latin tradition.”
Old French
Old French
James / Jacque
“French forms developing from Latin Iacobus, used as a personal name.”
Modern English
English
Jacques
“The French form of the given name James or Jacob.”