Job
given name · Latin script
Meaning: The name Job, from the Hebrew 'Īyyōv, is a powerful and historic name symbolizing resilience, unwavering faith, and profound strength in the face of adversity
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/xob/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Job is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Nigeria than in any other country.
- NLNetherlands≈1 in 4.3K(inferred from the name graph)
- NGNigeria≈1 in 7K
- ZASouth Africa≈1 in 13K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Nigeria (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 300 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 2.0K (inferred from the name graph)
≈31,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Kenya, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
One other spelling is counted as the same name:
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
The name Job, from the Hebrew 'Īyyōv, is a powerful and historic name symbolizing resilience, unwavering faith, and profound strength in the face of adversity. While its ancient meaning is "persecuted," the biblical character is renowned for his ultimate triumph and restoration, making the name a testament to enduring hope and integrity.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 3 languages in the etymology graph.
Often considered alongside
Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Job, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.
From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Job counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NG Nigeria | ≈31,000 est. | ≈1 in 7K | — | Job | 63 |
| KE Kenya | ≈26,000 est. | ≈1 in 2K | — | Job | 34 |
| PH Philippines | ≈5,600 est. | ≈1 in 20K | — | Job | 74 |
| ZA South Africa | ≈4,300 est. | ≈1 in 13K | — | Job | 35 |
| NL Netherlands | ≈4,000 est. | ≈1 in 4.3K | 7.3K | Job | 80 |
| US United States | 3,667 | 1 in 91K | 3.6K | Job | 300 |
| PE Peru | ≈2,600 est. | ≈1 in 12K | — | Job | 22 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Meertens NVB — Nederlandse Voornamenbank (live per-name BRP counts, 1790-2017). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Job is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The Hebrew name, ʾĪyyōv (אִיּוֹב), is commonly understood to mean "persecuted" or "hated". Other possible etymologies suggest a connection to an Arabic root meaning "to return" or a Northwest Semitic phrase meaning "Where is the father?".
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
In English, from Hebrew Job 'hated, persecuted'; also nickname from OFr jobe 'fool'/ME jubbe 'vessel'; first attested Jop serviens Osulf 1185 P (Co).
as a nameA Dictionary of English Surnames
In French, Biblical name, from Hebrew Iyyov; associated here with troubles/illnesses and humility.
as a nameDictionnaire généalogique des prénoms
In Arabic, Job; biblical/Qur'anic figure known for patience.
as a nameAfrican Muslim Names
In Hebrew, from Hebrew ʾiyyōv, name of uncertain origin
as a nameDeutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Job Adriaensz. Berckheydeb. 1630NLDutch painter (1630–1693)
- Job Charnockb. 1630GBBritish businessman
- Job Bicknell Ellisb. 1829USAmerican mycologist (1829–1905)
- Job Adams Cooperb. 1843USUnion United States Army soldier (1843-1899)
- Erwin von Witzlebenb. 1881PLnot in their usual nameGerman field marshal (1881–1944)
- Job Cohenb. 1947NLDutch politician
- Ayub Ogadab. 1956KEnot in their usual nameKenyan singer
- Job ter Burgb. 1972NLDutch film editor
- Joël Matipb. 1991DEnot in their usual nameCameroonian-German association football player (born 1991)
- Job in Islamone of the prophets in Islam
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 98 sources across 47 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 2.5K | #11,813 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 2.5K | #12,541 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 2.3K | #12,542 |
Reference works 10
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
- Hoffman, Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings (2nd ed., 2012)
- jeantosti.com — Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs (Jean Tosti)
- Kotík, Antonín, Naše příjmení (nové vydání, 1897)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What are other forms of the name Job?
- In the etymology graph, Eyüp, Ayub and Ayoub are forms of the same name in other languages; Joby is a recorded short or pet form.
- Is Job a male or female name?
- Job is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- What does the name Job mean, and where does it come from?
- The name Job, from the Hebrew 'Īyyōv, is a powerful and historic name symbolizing resilience, unwavering faith, and profound strength in the face of adversity. Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- How do you pronounce Job?
- A machine transcription gives /xob/ (IPA) for Spanish.
- In which country does Job have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 31 thousand people named Job in Nigeria, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled job.
- How common is the name Job?
- In the United States, the national register counted 3,667 people named Job in 2020, about 1 in 91 thousand residents.
What do you want to know about Job?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/jobThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Job”. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.