James
Featured in baby name books
James is a form of Jacob and shares its meaning, “supplanter” or “he who replaces.” James grew out of Jacob through Latin and Greek forms; in the New Testament two disciples bore it, chief among them James son of Zebedee, part of Jesus’s inner circle. James sounds suave and British, backed by centuries of kings and by James Bond, and it never goes out of style, worn by stars like James Stewart and James Taylor. Namesakes include James Naismith, who invented basketball in 1891, and the fun-loving ship’s cook James “Cookie” Dirocco of Forbidden Planet.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names Book, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Best Baby Names for Boys, Classic Biblical Baby Names, The Everything Baby Names Book, Numerology for Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Badass Baby Names, Sci-Fi Baby Names
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Usage of James in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching James against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if James is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
James in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 11,945 boys were named James, making it the #6 boys' name in the US. Since 1880, 5,250,638 boys have been named James, with the most (94,767) in 1947. It is most common, relative to births, in Wyoming, Vermont and Alaska.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
James in other languages
- Diego Dutch, Italian, Spanish
- Jacob Dutch, English, Finnish
- Jacobus Dutch, Latin
- Jacques Dutch, French
- Jakob Dutch, German
- Jakub Czech, Polish
- Jamie Dutch, English
- Jim Dutch, English
- Jimmy Dutch, English
- Santiago Portuguese, Spanish
- Giacomo Italian
- Jaakko Finnish
- Jacco Dutch
- Jacopo Italian
- Jacó Portuguese
- Jakab Hungarian
- Jame English
- Jameson English
- Jaume Catalan
- Jaymz English
- Jiminy English
- Jokūbas Lithuanian
- Jēkabs Latvian
- Seamas Irish
- Seamus Irish
- Séamas Irish
- Yacob Dutch
- Yakup Turkish
- Яков Russian
- يعقوب Arabic
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Towns named James
There are 163 towns and villages with James in their name, in 25 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 68🇿🇲 Zambia 17🇲🇼 Malawi 16🇫🇷 France 8🇬🇧 United Kingdom 8🇱🇷 Liberia 8🇨🇦 Canada 6🇦🇺 Australia 4
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint James | New York, 🇺🇸 United States | 13,338 | Map |
| Saint James | 🇰🇾 Cayman Islands | 8,735 | Map |
| James Island | South Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | 6,000 | Map |
| James City | North Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | 5,899 | Map |
| James Calata | Eastern Cape, 🇿🇦 South Africa | 5,590 | Map |
| Saint James | Minnesota, 🇺🇸 United States | 4,605 | Map |
| James Craik | Cordoba, 🇦🇷 Argentina | 4,560 | Map |
| Saint James | Missouri, 🇺🇸 United States | 4,216 | Map |
| Saint James | North Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | 3,165 | Map |
| Saint-James | Normandy, 🇫🇷 France | 3,014 | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named James
There are 138 lakes and reservoirs with James in their name, in 3 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 90🇨🇦 Canada 45🇦🇺 Australia 3
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| James Break | Illinois, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| James Lake | Nova Scotia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| James Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| James Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| James Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| James Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| James Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| James Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| James Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| James Lake | Manitoba, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
James songs
65 songs and musical works on Wikidata have James in their title. The best known:
- St. James Infirmary Blues – Louis Armstrong (1928)
- The James Bond Theme – Monty Norman (1962)
- James Dean – Eagles (1974)
- Just Like Jesse James – Cher (1989)
- I Wish I Was James Bond – Scouting for Girls (2008)
- James Brown Is Dead – L.A. Style (1991)
- James y el melocoton feo
- Sir James the Rose
- Sweet Baby James – James Taylor (1970)
- Beautiful James – Placebo (2021)
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named James
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name James.
James "Sugar Boy" Crawford
James A. Cody
James Akenhead
James Aldridge
See more...
Fictional characters named James
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
James as a pet name
FurryName has found 143 dogs named James in public pet registers, making it the #1,060 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Zurich (6), Adelaide (1), Port Moody (1). James as a dog name →
FurryName has found 18 cats named James in public pet registers, making it the #540 cat name there. Most of them are registered in Corangamite Shire (1), Surf Coast Shire (1), Richmond (1). James as a cat name →
James products
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James tumbler
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James cap
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James t-shirt
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James necklace
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James bracelet
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James keychain
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James ornament
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James baby blanket
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James name puzzle
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James wall sign
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James pillow
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