James

[Dale Seago]

James is a language study by itself. Isn't the name a variant of Jacob?

"Ye Jacobites by name,
Lend an ear, lend an ear. . ."

[Mike_Oettle]

Castledangerous wrote: “I love how my name, Michael sounds aspirated – ‘wickle’.”
As a Michael myself, I thank you for that interesting information.
I understand that in Irish Gaelic it is pronounced as Mihawl.

And MacBean wrote: “James is a language study by itself. Isn't the name a variant of Jacob?”
That it is. The Hebrew original was Ya’acov. I’m not quite sure how it appears in Greek, but in Latin it is Jacobus. From that came the Italian Giacopo, and the French Jacques. Somehow in Iberian Romance it came out as Iago, and since it frequently occurred as the name of one or the other saint of that name, it became Santiago, shortened to Tiago.
But in some Italian dialects (or perhaps just one) Giacopo changed to Giacomo, and it seems that that name was taken to Scotland, becoming James in English (Scots, if you prefer), and Seumas in Gaelic.
It certainly was a well established name in Scotland before it was ever encountered in England – until that time, all the English boys named for St James were called Jacob.

Alexander is another name with an interesting route of derivation. St Margaret of Scotland, consort of King Malcolm III Canmore, was an admirer of Classical and biblical heroes, and named her eldest son Alexander (after the Macedonian) and the second David (after the King of Israel).
Alastair is one of the many English renderings of the Gaelic form of Alexander.
Both Alexander and David succeeded to the Scottish throne.

In fact it was through David that my ancestors came to be Scots. Prince David was Earl of Huntingdon in England, and when he succeeded his brother a number of those who had served him in Huntingdon accompanied or followed him to Scotland.
Among them was the progenitor of the Scottish Lindsay family. Others who followed served at the House of Fotheringay, and took the name of Fotheringham (now recognised as belonging to the Lowland “clan” of Lindsay).
My mother’s maternal grandfather was a Fotheringham.
Regards,
Mike

[triforme]

Just to complete a loop from above -- in Greek the name is Iakobos, and is always translated as "James" in English versions of the New Testament. Oddly, Ia'aqov is always translated "Jacob" in English versions of the Hebrew Scriptures.

[Mike_Oettle]

Indeed, it is odd that the translations favour the one form in the Old Testament and the other in the New.
And it is not as if the Greek suggests a spelling with M in it.
Regards,
Mike

[Ruanaidh]

Indeed, it is odd that the translations favour the one form in the Old Testament and the other in the New. Mike

Another example: the Hebrew name that is translated as Joshua in the Old Testament is translated as Jesus in the New Testament.

[triforme]

I suppose that's true, however, in this case it seems to be an artifact of the translation through Greek. The Hebrew version is found in, say the book of Exodus, is Yeshouah, while the Greek version (in the Gospels, etc) is Iesous, so the English differentiation is just a transliteration in each case. But, indeed, they are the same name.