Late Latin Iacomus, from Hebrew Ya'aqov, Jacob — supplanter. Two apostles, six kings of Scotland and the 1611 Bible that carries the name.
James ranks 6th among American boys in 2025, with 12,004 born that year. Its best year was 1947, when 95,024 babies were given the name, ranking 1st. The typical living American called James is about 63 years old today. It is relatively most common in Wyoming, where it accounts for 1.32% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.