James is the English form of the Hebrew name Jacob, Ya'akov, and means "supplanter" or "he who follows", from the biblical story of Jacob holding his twin brother's heel at birth. Two apostles and seven kings of Scotland and England bore the name, and in the United States it was number one for most of the 1940s and 1950s. James has never left the top 20 in the SSA records, has been a top 10 name again since 2014 and ranks sixth in 2025.