Is Jaqueline in the Bible? No, It Is a Feminine Form of James and Jacob

No one named Jaqueline appears in the Bible. Jaqueline is a spelling of Jacqueline, the French feminine form of Jacques. Jacques is the French form of James, and James and Jacob are two English forms of one Hebrew name, Ya’aqov, which belonged to the patriarch Jacob in Genesis.

Where does the name Jaqueline come from?

Behind the Name lists Jaqueline as a variant of Jacqueline used in modern English and in Brazilian Portuguese. Jacqueline is the French feminine of Jacques, and Jacques comes from Iacobus, the Latin form of the name in the New Testament. French Bibles keep two forms apart, as English ones do: the patriarch is Jacob, and the apostles are Jacques. Strictly, then, Jacqueline is a feminine of James, though James and Jacob go back to the same Hebrew name.

A well-known early bearer was Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut (1401–1436), who ruled Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland in the Low Countries from 1417 to 1433. In English the name is often shortened to Jackie.

What does Jaqueline mean in the Bible?

Jaqueline has no meaning of its own in the Bible, since the name does not occur there. The meaning given for it is Jacob’s, and Genesis explains that name by the way he was born. He came out after his twin brother “with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob” (Genesis 25:26). The Hebrew for heel is ‘aqev, and Nominis, the name directory of the Catholic Church in France, gives Jacqueline that derivation. Because Jacob later took his brother’s birthright and blessing, the name is also explained as “supplanter,” one who takes another’s place. Some scholars think it began as a longer name meaning “may God protect.”

The prophet Hosea sums up Jacob’s life in one verse: “In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God” (Hosea 12:3). The second half recalls the night Jacob wrestled at the ford of the Jabbok and received a new name: “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28). His twelve sons became the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Is there a Saint Jacqueline?

Nominis lists no saint named Jacqueline. It gives the name a feast day on 8 February, the day of Blessed Jacqueline of Settesoli, known in Italian as Giacoma or Jacopa dei Settesoli. She was a Roman noblewoman who married into the Frangipani family and was left a widow young. She became a friend and supporter of Francis of Assisi, who stayed at her house when he came to Rome and called her “Brother Jacoba.” When he was dying at Assisi in 1226, he sent for her, and she was with him at the end. She is buried in the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, near his tomb. The year of her death is uncertain.

How popular is Jacqueline?

In the United States, Jacqueline has been among the 1,000 most common names for girls every year since 1900. It ranked 111th in 1959 and rose to 37th in 1961, the year John F. Kennedy became president with Jacqueline Kennedy as first lady. It ranked 37th again in 1964 and 558th in 2025. The spelling Jaqueline was in the American top 1,000 in most years from 1985 to 2012, highest at 268th in 2000.

Related reading

• Is James in the Bible? Yes, It Is the English Form of Jacob
• What does Jacob symbolize in the Bible?
• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names