Save Type Surname Usage Arabic, Assyrian, Chaldean, Slovak (Americanized), Czech (Americanized), Jewish (Ashkenazi, Americanized) Meaning & History Arabic and Assyrian/Chaldean: from a variant of the Arabic and Syriac personal name Yaʿqūb ‘Jacob’ (see Yaqub).Americanized form of Slovak, Czech, or Jewish (Ashkenazic) Jakub ‘Jacob’.