James (name)

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This article is about the given name James. For the surname, see James (surname). For other uses, see James (disambiguation).
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James
Given Name
Pronunciation /dʒeɪmz/
Gender Male
Meaning "he supplanted"
Origin Latin
Related names Iacomus, Jacob, Jaime, Jamie, Séamas
Wikipedia articles All pages beginning with James
Look up James in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

James is the most common name for a male in the United States according to the 1990 U.S. Census, beating the name Mark.[1] Likewise, in Northern Ireland, the name has appeared among the 10 most popular for the last quarter of the 20th Century and into the 21st.[2]

"James" is derived from the same Hebrew name as Jacob, meaning "holds the heel" (in the Genesis narrative, Jacob was born grasping Esau's heel and later bought his birthright).

The name came into English language from the French variation of Gemmes of the Late Latin name Iacomus, a dialect variant of Iacobus, from the New Testament Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iakōbos), from Hebrew word יעקב (Yaʻaqov). Cognates include Jacob. The development Iacobus > Iacomus is likely a result of nasalization of the o and assimilation to the following b (i.e., intermediate *Iacombus) followed by simplification of the cluster mb through loss of the b.

  • Albanian: Jakup, Jakub, Jakob or Jakov
  • Amharic: ያዕቆብ (Ya`iqob)
  • Arabic: يعقوب (Yaʻqub)
  • Armenian: Հակոբ (western Hagop, eastern Hakob)
  • Azerbaijani: Yaqub
  • Basque: Jakes, Jakobe, Jakue
  • Belarusian: Jakub
  • Breton: Jagu, Jagut, Jacut, Jak, Jakes, Jakez, Jakezig, Jakou
  • Bulgarian: Яков, (Yakov)
  • Catalan: Jaim, Jaume, Xaume, Jacob
  • Chinese: 詹姆斯 (zh„n m– s‹), 雅各
  • Cornish: Jago, Jammes, Jamma
  • Croatian: Jakov
  • Czech: Jakub, Jakoubek (diminutive), Kuba (diminutive), Kubík (diminutive), Kubíček (diminutive), Kubas (informal, uncommon), Kubes (informal, uncommon), Kubis (informal, uncommon), Kubi (informal, uncommon)
  • Danish: Jakob, Jeppe, Ib.
  • Dutch: Jacob(us), Jakob, Jaap, Jobby, Cobus, Koos
  • English: Jacob, Jakob (uncommon, by way of German, Yiddish, etc.), Jacoby (rare, chiefly American, and originally a surname), Jake, Jakey (diminutive), Jackie (diminutive, chiefly British), Jack (also taken more commonly as a diminutive for John), Coby (diminutive, uncommon, chiefly American); James, Jamie (diminutive, chiefly British), Jaime/Jaimie (diminutive, uncommon, chiefly American, and by way of Spanish), Jim Jimmy/Jimmi/Jimi (diminutive); Jacqueline/Jaqueline (feminized, by way of French), Jacqui/Jaqui (feminized diminutive), Jackie (feminized diminutive, chiefly American), Jacki (feminized diminutive), Jamie/Jamey (chiefly American), Jamie/Jami (feminized), Jay, Jem, Jemmy
  • Esperanto: Jakobo
  • Estonian: Jakob, Jaakob, Jaagup, Jaak
  • Faroese: Jákup
  • Finnish: Jaakob, Jaakoppi, Jaakko, Jamppa (diminutive)
  • French: Jacques, Jacob, Jacquot, Jacot, Jaco, Jack (diminutive), Jacky (diminutive), Jacq (diminutive), Jacquy (diminutive), Jame, Gemmes (Normandy), Gemme (Normandy), Jacomo; Jacqueline (feminized)
  • Friulian: Jacun
  • Galician: Xaime, Iago, Diego, Xacobe
  • Georgian: იაკობი (iakobi)
  • German: Jakob, Jeckel (diminutive), Jaeckel (diminutive)
  • Modern Greek: Ιακώβ (Iakόv), Ιάκωβος (Iákovos), Γιακουμής (Yakumís, possibly also from Ιωακείμ(Joachim)), Ιακωβίνα (Iakovína, feminized), Ζάκης (Zákis, French-sounding)
  • Hawaiian: Kimo
  • Hebrew: יעקב (Ya'aqov),קובי (Kobi : diminutive from Ya'akov)
  • Hungarian: Jakab
  • Icelandic: Jakob
  • Indonesian: Yakobus, Yakub
  • Irish: Séamas/Séumas, Shéamais (vocative, whence anglicized Hamish), Seamus (anglicized), Shamus (anglicized), Séimí (diminutive), Séimín (diminutive)
  • Italian: Giacomo, Iacopo or Jacopo, Giacobbe
  • Japanese: ヤコブ(Yakobu in the Bible) ジェイムズ　(Jeimuzu in Katakana)
  • Korean: 야곱(Yagop in the Old Testament), 야고보 (Yagobo in the New Testament), 제임스(Jeimseu In Hangul)
  • Latin: Iacobus, Iacomus (vulgarized)
  • Latvian: Džeimss
  • Lithuanian: Džeimsas
  • Macedonian: Јаков (Yakov)
  • Malayalam: യാക്കോബ്‌ (Yacob), ചാക്കോ (Chacko)
  • Maltese:Gakbu
  • Manx: Jayms
  • Māori: Hemi
  • Norwegian: Jakob, Jeppe
  • Occitan: Jammes, James
  • Polish: Jakub, Kuba, Kubuś (diminutive)
  • Portuguese: Jacó (O.T. form), Jacob, Jaime, Tiago (contracted form — used in the N.T.), Diogo. Used only in Brazil: Thiago (Brazilian "anglicized" spelling), Diego, Jaqueline (fem.)
  • 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)
  • Slovak: Jakub, Kubo, Kubko (diminutive), Jakubko (diminutive)
  • Slovenian: Jakob, Jaka
  • Spanish: Jacobo, Jacob, Iago, Yago, Santiago, Jaime, Diego
  • Swedish: Jakob
  • Swiss:Köbi, Chöbi, Jakobli (diminutive)
  • Syriac: ܝܰܥܩܽܘܒ (Yaqub)
  • Tagalog: Jaime
  • Thai: เจมส์
  • Turkish: Yakup
  • Ukrainian: Яків (Yakiv)
  • Welsh: Iago, Jâms, Jago
  • Yiddish: Yankel (diminutive of the Hebrew Ya'akov, a more religious form in the context of the Yiddishland - East European Jewish communities until WWII -), Yankele (diminutive of the precedent), Koppel (diminutive)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Frequently Occurring First Names and Surnames From the 1990 Census, Site for locating the frequency of a given name in the 1990 U.S. Census, US Census Bureau
  2. ^ Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (2004-01-02). "Jack and Emma were the most popular first names in Northern Ireland in 2003" (PDF). Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-14. “Only one of the top 10 boy's names in 1975 (James) is still in the top 10 in 2003....”

[edit] See also