James - Meaning of James

What does James mean?

Pronounce
James

[ 1 syll. ja-mes, jam-es ] The baby girl name James is also used as a boy name, with the latter form being far more popular. It is pronounced JHEYMZ in English †. James has its origins in the Hebrew language and it is used largely in English. The meaning of James is 'Yahweh may protect; holder of heel; supplanter'. It is derived from yahweh 'name of God' ; aqeb meaning 'heel' ; aqab 'to supplant, to cheat'.

Forms of James include the Spanish Jaimica, the name Jami, and the name Jamie.

See also the related categories, yahweh (god), english, and hebrew.

James is uncommon as a baby girl name. At the modest height of its usage in 1930, 0.036% of baby girls were named James. It was #323 in rank then. The baby name has seen a substantial drop in frequency since then, and is of only sporadic use today. In 2018, within the family of girl names directly related to James, Jamie was the most popular. James has primarily been a boy name in the last century. In 1989, 177 times more boys than girls were given the name James.

Baby names that sound like James include Jamese, Jas, Janese, Jones, Jong, Jóna, Jung, Jynice, Jynx, Genes, Genjee, Gines, Jahna, Jama, Jamesha, Jameshia, Jamesia, Jamessa, Jamis, and Jamise.

† Pronunciation for James: JH as in "joy (JH.OY)" ; EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; M as in "me (M.IY)" ; Z as in "zoo (Z.UW)"

A famous person named James is Model James King, born Jamie King 23 April 1979, Omaha, Nebraska.