James
Saint James the Great, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus
Pronunciation/dʒeɪmz/
GenderMale
LanguageEnglish
Name dayJune 30th
Origin
Word/nameHebrew, Latin
Meaning"holder of the heel" or "supplanter"[1]
Other names
Related namesJacob, Jakob, Jake, Jack, Jacques, Hamish, Jim, Jimmy, Jamie, Jaime, Jemmy, Jay; language variants listed below

James is an English language given name that is a derivative of the name Jacob, most commonly used for males.[2]

Etymology

James is a modern descendant of the Hebrew name Ya'akov (original Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב), in English: Jacob.[3] The Hebrew name went successively through the Latin form Iacobus, its derivative Vulgar Latin version Iacomus (cf. Italian Giacomo, Portuguese Tiago or Thiago (in ancient spelling although still used as a first name), and Spanish Iago, Santiago), and finally the Old French James.[3] The final -s in the English first names is typical of those borrowed from Old French, where it was the former masculine subject case (cf. Jules, Miles, Charles, etc.).

Forms of James

Abbreviations

Diminutives

Variants in English and various other languages

Popularity

James is one of the most common male names in the English-speaking world. In the United States, James was one of the five most common given names for male babies for most of the 20th century. Its popularity peaked during the Baby Boom (Census records 1940–1960), when it was the most popular name for baby boys. Its popularity has declined considerably over the past 30 years, but it still remains one of the 20 most common names for boys.[4]

In Northern Ireland, the name has appeared among the 10 most popular for the last quarter of the 20th century and into the 21st.[5] In 2013, James was the eighth most popular name for boys in Australia.[6]

James is the second most common first name for living individuals in the United States, belonging to roughly 3.4 million people in the United States as of 2021, according to the Social Security Administration.[7]

In 2022, in the United States, the name James was given to 12,028 boys, ranking it as the fourth most popular name.[8]

In 2022, it was the 11th most popular name given to boys in Canada.[9]

See also

References

  1. Campbell, Mike. "Meaning, origin and history of the name James".
  2. Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia; Hardcastle, Kate (2006). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191726675.
  3. "James". Behind the Name.
  4. "Top Names Over the Last 100 Years". www.ssa.gov.
  5. "Jack and Emma were the most popular first names in Northern Ireland in 2003" (PDF) (Press release). Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. 2004-01-02. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-29. Only one of the top 10 boy's names in 1975 (James) is still in the top 10 in 2003....
  6. "Australia's 100 most popular baby names". Kidspot. April 2, 2013. Archived from the original on January 10, 2014.
  7. "Name James: Wolfram Alpha". Wolfram Alpha. January 1, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  8. "Popular Baby Boy Names in 2022". Baby Names.
  9. "Table 17-10-0147-01 First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators (Number)". Statistics Canada.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "James".