French variant of Jacqueline, feminine of Jacques (James), from Hebrew 'Ya'aqov' meaning 'supplanter'.
Jacquelin is a French feminine form of Jacques, itself the French adaptation of the Latin Jacobus — tracing back ultimately to the Hebrew Ya'akov, meaning 'supplanter' or, in more generous interpretations, 'may God protect.' The name traveled through medieval France where it was adopted as a feminine variant alongside Jacqueline, with Jacquelin representing a slightly spare, elegant spelling that strips the terminal 'e' and lends the name a quieter visual grace. The name's cultural prestige rose dramatically in the English-speaking world through the mid-twentieth century, largely owing to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, whose poise and style made the name synonymous with a particular kind of sophisticated femininity.
Before that, the name had circulated among French nobility and bourgeoisie for centuries, carried by figures in French literature and regional histories across Burgundy and Provence. The variant spelling Jacquelin — without the final 'e' — appears in older French records and suggests a genealogical tie to earlier written forms. Today, Jacquelin occupies a graceful middle ground: recognizable yet individualized.
Parents who choose this spelling often seek the full resonance of the classical name while subtly distinguishing their child from the more common Jacqueline. It ages beautifully, carrying equal weight on a child and an adult, and retains a distinctly Franco-European elegance that has never entirely gone out of fashion.