James is a common given name. It is the most popular name for a male in the United States, and during the 1990 U.S. Census, approximately 3.3% of males counted had the first name James. It is derived from the same Hebrew name as Jacob, meaning "grasps by the heel" or "supplanter," probably in a deceiving way (In the bible Jacob was born grasping Esau's heel and later bought his birthright).
Etymology
The name came into English from the French variation
Gemmes of the Late Latin word
Iacomus, a substandard dialect variant of
Iacobus, from the New Testament Greek
(Iakōbos), from Hebrew
יעקב (). Cognates include
Jacob.
Translations
- Amharic: ያዕቆብ (Ya`iqob)
- Afrikaans: Jakob, or Jacobus
- Arabic: يعقوب (Yaʻqub)
- Armenian: Հակոբ (western Hagop, eastern Hakob)
- Azerbaijani: Yaqub
- Basque: Jakes
- Belarusian: Jakub
- Breton: Jagu, Jagut, Jacut, Jak, Jakes, Jakez, Jakezig, Jakou
- Bulgarian: Яков, (Yakov)
- Catalan: Jaim, Jaume, Xaume
- Chinese: 雅各 (pinyin: yǎgè), 詹姆士 (pinyin: zhānmǔshì), 詹姆斯 (pinyin: zhānmǔsī)
- Cornish: Jago, Jammes, Jamma
- Croatian: Jakov
- Czech: Jakub, Jakoubek, Kubicek (diminutive), Kubes Kubes, Kuba (diminutive)
- Danish: Jakob, Jeppe, Ib.
- Dutch: Jacob(us), Jakob, Jaap (diminutive), Cobus (diminutive), Coos (diminutive), Chime (diminutive)
- English: Jacob, Jakob (uncommon, by way of German, Yiddish, etc.), Jacoby (rare, chiefly American, and originally a surname), Jake (diminutive), Jakey (diminutive), Jackie (diminutive, chiefly British), Jack (diminutive, also taken as short for John), Coby (diminutive, uncommon, chiefly American); James, Jamie (diminutive, chiefly British), Jaime/Jaimie (diminutive, uncommon, chiefly American, and by way of Spanish), Jim (diminutive), Jimmy/Jimmi/Jimi (diminutive); Jacqueline/Jaqueline (feminized, by way of French), Jacqui/Jaqui (feminized diminutive), Jackie (feminized diminutive, chiefly American), Jacki (feminized diminutive), Jamie (feminized, chiefly American), Jamey/Jami (feminized)
- Finnish: Jaakob, Jaakoppi, Jaakko
- French: Jacques, Jacob, Jacquot, Jacot, Jaco, Jack (diminutive), Jacky (diminutive), Jacq (diminutive), Jacquy(diminutive), Jame, Gemmes (Normandy), Gemme (Normandy), Jacomo; Jacqueline (feminized)
- Korean: 야고보 (romaja: Yagobo)
- Galician: Xaime, Iago, Diego, Xacobe
- German: Jakob, Jeckel (diminutive), Jaeckel (diminutive)
- Modern Greek: Ιάκωβος (Iakovos)
- Hawaiian: Kimo
- Hebrew: יעקב (Ya'aqov)
- Hungarian: Jakab
- Icelandic: Jakob
- Indonesian: Yakob, Yakobus
- Italian: Giacomo, Jacopo, Giacobbe, Lapo
- Irish: Séamas/Séumas, Shéamais (vocative, whence anglicized Hamish), Seamus (anglicized), Shamus (anglicized), Séimí (diminutive), Séimín (diminutive)
- Japanese: Most common:ジェームズ (romaji:Jēmuzu) Also: ジェイムス
(
romaji:Jeimusu) and ジェムス (
romaji:Jemusu)
- Latin: Iacobus, Iacomus (vulgarized)
- Malayalam: യാക്കോബ് (Yacob), ചാക്കോ (Chacko)
- Manx: Jayms
- Norwegian: Jakob, Jeppe
- Occitan: Jammes, James
- Portuguese: Jacó, Jaime, Iago, Thiago, Tiago, Diogo, Diego
- Polish: Jakub, Kuba, Kubuś (diminutive)
- Provençal: Jacme
- Romanian: Iacob, Iacov
- Russian: Яков (Yakov), Яша (Yasha) (diminutive)
- Scottish Gaelic: Seumas, Sheumais (vocative), Hamish (anglicized)
- Serbian (Cyrillic/Latinic): Јаков/Jakov (Yakov); Јаша/Jaša (Yasha) (diminutive)
- Spanish: Jacobo, Iago, Yago, Santiago, Diego, Jaime
- Syriac: ܝܰܥܩܽܘܒ (Yaqub)
- Swedish: Jakob
- Tagalog: Jaime
- Turkish: Yakup
- Ukrainian: Яків (Yakiv)
- Welsh: Siam, Iago
- Yiddish: Yankel (diminutive), Koppel (diminutive)
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