boy’s name
Jacob in Chinese
雅各布
yǎ gè bù
Jacob is usually written 雅各布 in Chinese, pronounced yǎ gè bù. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Jacob, not for their meaning.
Character by character
| Character | Pinyin | Tone | Meaning | Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 雅 | yǎ | third (dipping) tone | elegant, graceful, refined | 雅 |
| 各 | gè | fourth (falling) tone | each, individually, every, all | 各 |
| 布 | bù | fourth (falling) tone | cotton cloth, textiles, linen | 布 |
Readings and meanings come from the Unicode Han Database (Unihan). In a transliterated name, the meanings of the characters are not read as a sentence.
Questions about Jacob in Chinese
How do you write Jacob in Chinese?
Jacob is usually written 雅各布 in Chinese, pronounced yǎ gè bù. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Jacob, not for their meaning.
How do you pronounce 雅各布?
雅各布 is pronounced yǎ gè bù: yǎ in the third (dipping) tone, gè in the fourth (falling) tone and bù in the fourth (falling) tone.
How do you write Jacob in traditional Chinese?
The same way: 雅各布 uses no simplified characters, so it is also written 雅各布 in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Is 雅各布 a real Chinese name?
It is the usual way Chinese newspapers and books write the foreign name Jacob, so Chinese readers will recognise it as a foreign name. If you would like a name that looks Chinese, our free generator also suggests names chosen for their meaning.
How do Chinese transliterations work? Read how we choose your Chinese name.