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If the one I'm having in May is a boy he will be Jack. I know only one. Am American though.

I'm down south and know of a 5 year old and a new born called Jack. Also know a Jak who is 4(ish)

I know 2 Jacks one is in ds3 school the other lives in London,it would depend on your area i suppose and how popular the name is where you are.
If you really like go for it

They must be in the same place as all the Olivias I have an Olivia and she's the only one in her school year. Jack is lovely, its my grandfathers name and always floated about our boys names list. I don't know any - I know of one.

There are A LOT of Jacks around here (Surrey).

Two in our bf group, so out of about 20 babies. Sorry!

Still a nice name though.

I live in east anglia and my ds is the only Jack in his school, nursery-y6. Also at my siblings school there's only 2 Jacks. The only other Jack I've come across since he was born was an elderly gentleman, his wife told me Jacks never really grow up and never loose the spirit of a child.

FlamingNora - you are right that James also comes from the same root name as Jacob (Ya'akov), but John does not.

John is a shortened form of Johanan, which in turn is the Anglicised form of the Hebrew Yochanan which means "God is gracious".

Jack derives from John, through the name Jankin, a Medieval form of John. Jankin became Jackin, which in turn, got shortened to Jack.

Jack can be used as a short form of Jacob, inspired by Jacques, the French form of Jacob. However, it originates from John, so means the same as John (God is gracious).

A jake is a vagrant, in Glasgow vernacular, in case that may influence.

Oh..... Read your post again. Heal grabber!? That's so good
<<<going to investigate Ds' name some more>>>

FlaminNora Jack isn't a form of Jacob. It's a diminutive of John

Tess, I have a 13 year old Jack too. He's named after my dad. He was the only one I a year of 60 at primary school and we don't know any others his age. We're in the Northwest.

Forgot to say, in my family we have 2 Jacks, 1 John, 1 Jimmy, 1 Jim, 1 James, 1 Seamus (Irish for James) and possibly soon a Jacob/Jake. We don't appear to have much imagination.

Both Jack and Jake are shortened versions of Jacob. I know this because I have researched this name right back to it's Hebrew origins (coz I wants it for my baby ). Both James and John come from it too. They all mean the same: heel grabber.

Tess - wise words! I think the whole thread has encouraged me not to get too hung up on it actually. So at least there is now ONE name me and DH potentially agree on

London, I know 3 jacks - 1 baby, 2 3-year olds HTH

West Midlands - I know 4/5+ Jacks

Personally I think people can read too much into popularity.

DS1 (who is almost 13) is named Jack. Needless to say it was the #1 name in 1999.

There were 9.785 baby boys named Jack in 1999 (in England & Wales, Scotland has its own data). Yet there were 319,255 baby boys born in England & Wales that year, so that means 309,470 baby boys born that year were NOT named Jack.

Of the 9,785 that were, they're going to be spread all over England and Wales. As a result, there are very few at my son's school, yet people kept telling me he'd be one of many when he got to school.

I appreciate then when people first look at the popularity charts, seeing a name high on the chart can perhaps be a downer, but when you look closely at the actual statistics you realise that in reality it isn't that much of an issue.

Thanks everyone for your input. The ONS stats by region particularly useful. Weirdly ds1's name was apparently no.1 in London (where I live) last year and yet I've never met another baby called it. All very odd! I guess the moral of the story is just go with what you like and are not sick of hearing at your local playground/nursery/school!

I know 5 ranging between 15 and 1

In my baby group in Cornwall 5 out of the 8 boys were called Jack (this was 2010). I'm in London now and I don't know a single Jack under the age of 30. Geography definitely makes a huge difference!

Where I work we have 1 in Y2, 2 in Y3 and 1 in Y6. I also know a 2 year old Jack.

Really not very many at all.

My Jack is 21 now, he was one of the first. When we told people his name when he was a baby they pulled faces ad said "is it a family name?" as if we had called him Ebenezer or Adolph! There was one other Jack in his class at school and there are 2 in DS2's year ( he is 18). My Jack has Alexander as his first name ( we found it easier to find names Jack went with if they were put first ) and there are far more boys called Alex around his age than any other name.

We have a Jack. He's 2 and there are no others at the groups we go to. Here (Leeds) all boys under 2 seem to be from the following list:
Finley
Noah
Alfie
Charlie
Oliver
Henry

I know at least three of all of those all under 2. Not to say Jack isn't still popular up here.... It is but all the ones I know are 10+

They are all here in the North East! I've been teaching for six years and every class I've taught has had at least two Jacks (honestly). My very first class had four (although one was a Jak).

This year at my school (two form entry, nearly 400 kids) every class has one Jack. Some have two or three.

If you go on the Office of National Statistics site, which has the top 100 names for each year, you can get the top ten for your area. Jack is top in NE but doesn't appear in London top ten at all (I have the lists as I'm pg with a DS this time)!