A male name. for the development of James from Jacobus and its etymology, see under Jacob and Jacoba. Jame or James is found side by side with Jacques in Old French, the one being from Jacomus, the other from Jacobus, and it was Jame or James which took root in England where it is not recorded for about a century after the Norman Conquest. The first recorded pilgrimage from England to the shrine of St James in Compostella was in 1148, and the name James (sic, not Jacobus) occurs at the beginning of the 13th C, i.e. James de Houdernes and James de Bakepuz, so named in charters of King John. In the Ancren Riwle c. 1225 it is Iame, in the Testa de Neville, or Book of Fees, temp. Hen. III-Edw. I Jame; in Chaucer’s Shipman’s Tale we fine Seynt Jame; a 14th-C Legendary has Seynt Iemes, Seynt Ieme (cf. later vulgar Jeames and Jem), and 15th C English Register of Oseney Abbey, c. 1460 (E.E.T.S. 133-4) Jamys. It will be noticed that most of these early examples are references to St James. The saint meant is usually St James the Great, the s. of Zebedee, and not St James the Less, the brother of our Lord; of 440 churches dedicated in this name in England, 414 are to the former and only 26 to the latter. It was the supposed tomb of St James the Great which was the object of pilgrimage at Sant Jago de Compostella, the most famous shrine in Europe in the Middle Ages. The name was not very widely used in England in the Middle Ages, though it was more frequent in the North and in Scotland. The surnames James, Jameson, FitzJames (found in the 15th C) are, however, evidence that it was well established. The accession of James Stuart to the English throne in 1603 marks the beginning of the period in which it became a common English name. The usual diminutive is Jim or Jimmy (formerly Jem and Jemmy - cf. a burglar’s jemmy), in Scotland Jamie. For the Celtic forms of the name see Hamish. There seems to have been a fashion for the French Jacques in the 16th C, and Camden says of it: ‘which some Frenchified English, to their disgrace, have too much affected.’ Jacobus Curia Regis Rolls 1186-1220. Iame Ancren Riwle c. 1225. Jame Testa de Neville, or Book of Fees, temp. Hen. III-Edw. I 13th C. Jamettus Feudal Aids 1284. Jake, Jaques Exchequer Rolls 1306. Jacominus Feudal Aids 1305. Iames, Iame 14th-C Legendary. Jacomynus Feudal Aids 1428. Jamys English Register of Oseney Abbey, c. 1460 (E.E.T.S. 133-4) 1460. Iames, Iamys Lincs 1533.

Etymologically the same as Jacob. The Greek (which may be transliterated further as Jacobos) derives from the Biblical Ja’akob, from Heb, akeb, ‘the heel,’ because, as the Prophet said, ‘he took his brother (Esau) by the heel in the womb’ and duly supplanted him in his birihright. Jacobos became Latin Jacobus (originally pronounced yakobus); the English James seems to have come from Spanish Jayme (later Jaime), to which the addition of an s presents no great difficulty, the termination of Jacobus probably being operative. But how Spanish Jayme sprang from Jacobus, or alternatively James from French Jacques, no satisfactory explanation has yet been made. The popularity of the name has been caused by its prevalence among European royalty and by its eminence in the annals of the accredited saints.

A name corrupted from Jacobus, by change of b to m. Conf. the Ip. Jaíme, and see Jacob. The nick-names are Jim, Jem, Jemmy.

Hebrew (masculine) - Beguiling.

James. The same in signification as Jacob. 1. Surnamed the Greater or Elder, to distinguish him from James the Younger: was brother to St John the Evangelist, and son to Zebedee and Salome. Matt iv. 21. 2. James the Less, called the brother (kinsman) of our Lord. Gal. i. 19. He was the son of Cleopas, and Mary, sister to the Virgin; consequently cousin-german to Jesus Christ, according to the flesh. 1 Cor. xv. 7.

Meaning: Greek form of Jacob.

A English name, meaning: Form of Jacob.

A Gaelic name: Seumas, Middle Gaelic Sémus (M‘V.); from the English James, a modification of Hebrew Jacob.