James
Masculine · “From Hebrew Ya'aqov (Jacob)”
James is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 5,250,638 boys against 23,882 girls since 1880. See James as a girl name
James reached English through a chain of translators: the Hebrew Ya'aqov became Greek Iakobos, then a softened Late Latin Iacomus, then Old French James. It has been an English royal name, a name for two apostles in the King James Bible of 1611, and the name of the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. One syllable, ending in that easy hum of -mz.
How old is the name James?
James was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical James alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 3,022,000 people named James are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name James most popular?
James peaked in 1940, reaching #1 nationally. Today it ranks #6, 5 places below that high. See the whole 1940 chart.
James appears on these lists:
- Names that never go out of style
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- Every #1 name in American history
- America's top 100 names right now
- The top-10 club: every name that made it
- The steadiest names in America
- all guides
Works in British families too:
Where it comes from
From Ya'aqov to James
The story of James
James and Jacob are, at root, the same name. Hebrew Ya'aqov was written Iakobos by the Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament writers, and Iacobus in Latin. Somewhere in Late Latin the b softened to an m, giving Iacomus, and that variant traveled north into Old French as James while the older form stayed put as Jacob. English took the French form; the two spellings have run side by side ever since. When the translators of the 1611 English Bible rendered the apostles' names, they chose James, which fixed the spelling for the whole English-speaking world.
Meaningscholars disagree
From Hebrew Ya'aqov (Jacob) — either "heel" or "holder of the heel/supplanter", or "may God protect"
The Book of Genesis links Jacob to the Hebrew word for heel, since he was born grasping his brother Esau's heel, which gave the traditional reading "supplanter". Semitic scholars instead reconstruct an original Ya'aqov-El, "may God protect". Both readings are seriously held; neither has pushed the other out.
Cultural footprint
James Dean (b. 1931) — Rebel Without a Cause icon
James Madison (b. 1751) — "Father of the Constitution" and fourth US president
James Cook (b. 1728) — Explorer who mapped the Pacific
James Joyce (b. 1882) — Wrote Ulysses
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Ya'aqov
- Iakobos
- Iacomus
- James
Related forms: Santiago · Jaime · Jacques · Giacomo · Séamus · Tiago
Pronouncing James
JAYMZ
One syllable everywhere in English. The related forms elsewhere sound quite different — Jacques is ZHAHK, Séamus is SHAY-mus, Santiago is san-tee-AH-go.
Nicknames for James
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 194888,605 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1reached in 1940
- Change vs 2022
- −1.4%11,945 in 2025, from 12,119
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
James in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Santiago in Spanish — related form
- Jaime in Spanish — same name
- Jacques in French — same name
- Giacomo in Italian — same name
- Séamus in Irish — same name
- Tiago in Portuguese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada, National Records of Scotland, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Jamess among us
people named James are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 143 born in 2025 was named James
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Robert test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. James's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Robert climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Robert's path sketches the road James is walking now.
James has held the top-100 across 15 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where James is headed
James should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
James beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to James in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled one way and known one way across the entire English-speaking world; almost never misheard or misspelled.
- A deep bench of short forms already in use — Jim, Jimmy, Jamie, Jay — so a boy can choose his own register later.
- Charts in Canada, Scotland, and England & Wales as well as the US, so it crosses borders without translation.
- Documented in English continuously since the medieval period, and represented in every living generation.
- It is one of the most heavily used boys' names in American history, so a James will meet other Jameses — in his classroom, on his team, at work.
- Because so many bearers are now in their later years, Jim and Jimmy read as belonging to older generations; the full James and Jamie sit more neutrally.
- It has become a default middle name for many families, which some parents feel makes it less of a statement in the first slot.
- Jamie is used for girls as well as boys in the US, so that particular short form carries no gender signal on its own.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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James
Masculine · #6 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jamess are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,022,000 people named James are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name James in 2025?
- James ranks #6 among US boy names in 2025, with 11,945 babies given the name.
- How common is the name James?
- About 1 in every 143 US boys born in 2025 was named James — 11,945 in all.
- Will my child share the name James with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 6 classrooms will have a child named James.
Ranked beside James
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Henry#5 · Elijah#7 · Theodore#4 · Mateo#8 · Oliver#3 · William#9 · Noah#2 · Lucas#10
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles James? See the current top 100.
Choosing between James and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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