Jacqueline
Where Jacqueline comes from
From French Jacqueline, a feminine diminutive form of Jacques (“James”), from Hebrew יעקב (ya'akóv, “Jacob”), from the root עקב (‘akev, “heel”), because the biblical patriarch Jacob was born just behind Esau, and was grasping Esau’s heel in an effort to prevent him from being born first.
- French
- 3 syllables
- Vowel-ended
Along the way
- 1891First appearance#1,093 among girls, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
- 1929Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis bornFirst Lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963
- 1944Jacqueline Bisset bornEnglish actress
- 1964Peak, #3711,975 babies named Jacqueline — more than any year before or since.
- 1969The fadeThe first year with half the peak's births — down to #62.
In the dictionary
- A female given name from French.
Namesakes
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis · First Lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, 1929–1994
- Jacqueline Bisset · English actress, born 1944
- Jacqueline Fernandez · Sri Lankan actress, born 1985
- Jacqueline Boyer · French singer, born 1941
- Jacqueline du Pré · British cellist, 1945–1987
Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.