James
JAYMZ
A classic English name meaning “supplanter,” from the same Hebrew root as Jacob.
Meaning
James comes through Latin and English from the Hebrew name Jacob. In the excerpted 19th-century sources, it is glossed as “supplanter,” which is the traditional meaning attached to Jacob and its later forms. The sources also note Gaelic Seumas as the Celtic form of James.
Origin
HebrewLatinEnglishmasculine
Fun fact
The excerpt shows James as one of the names that shifts form across languages, with Gaelic Seumas given as its Celtic equivalent.
Confidence: sourced. Sources: History of Christian Names, Praenomina; or, the etymology of the principal Christian names of Great Britain and Ireland.