Where is the surname "James" likely to come from??

Question:

Where is the surname "James" likely to come from??

I'm english btw just in case it may be diiferent over the atlantic!!! lol

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: First Name
James
English and Scottish form of the name borne in the New Testament by two of Christ's disciples, James son of Zebedee and James son of Alphaeus. This form comes from Late Latin Iacomus, a variant of Iacobus, Latin form of the New Testament Greek name Iakobos. This is the same name as Old Testament Jacob (Hebrew Yaakov). For many centuries now it has been thought of in the English-speaking world and elsewhere as a distinct name, but in some other cultures, e.g. French, no distinction is made.

In Britain, James is a royal name that from the beginning of the 15th century onwards has been associated particularly with the Scottish house of Stewart: James I of Scotland (1394–1437; ruled 1424–37) was a patron of the arts and a noted poet, as well as an energetic monarch. King James VI of Scotland (1566–1625; reigned 1567–1625) succeeded to the throne of England in 1603. His grandson, James II of England (1633–1701; reigned 1685–8) was a Roman Catholic, deposed in 1688 in favour of his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. From then on he, his son (also called James), and his grandson Charles (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”) made various unsuccessful attempts to recover the English throne. Their supporters were known as Jacobites (from Jacobus, Latin form of James), and the name James became for a while particularly associated with Roman Catholicism on the one hand, and Highland opposition to the English government on the other. It is now widely used by people of many different creeds and nationalities. Cognates: French: Jacques. Italian: Giacomo. Spanish: Jaime. Catalan: Jaume. Galician: Xaime. Irish: Séamas, Séamus, Seumas, Seumus (Gaelic); Shamus (Anglicized). Scottish: Seumas (Gaelic); Hamish (Anglicized). Cornish: Jago. See also Jem.

Short form: English: Jim.

Pet form: English, Scottish: Jimmy, Jimmie.

Feminine form: Scottish: Jamesina. See also Jamie.
A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192800507
Last Name
James
English: from a personal name that has the same origin as Jacob. However, among English speakers, it is now felt to be a separate name in its own right. This is largely because in the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611) the form James is used in the New Testament as the name of two of Christ’s apostles (James the brother of John and James the brother of Andrew), whereas in the Old Testament the brother of Esau is called Jacob. The form James comes from Latin Jacobus via Late Latin Jac(o)mus, which also gave rise to Jaime, the regular form of the name in Spanish (as opposed to the learned Jacobo). See also Jack and Jackman. This is a common surname throughout the British Isles, particularly in South Wales. Source(s):
www.ancestry.com Probably from the guys dad The surname 'James' is directly and solely derived from the first name 'James'.

In most cultures there is provision for Fathers names to become children's names by one method or another. This is another.

Or as Paul so succinctly put's it!........ Patronymic name derived from "Jacob" and usually meaning "son of Jacob." In English, Jacob and James are distinctly separate names, but throughout the rest of the world, the two are used interchangeably Ancestry.Com shows the following given as place of origin of James' immigrants to the U.S.

England 3757

Great Britain 565

Ireland 523

Wales 359

Germany 166

Scotland 151

Rootsweb(free site) has over 340,000 entries in family trees for the surname James. Pull up the site and put James in the World Connect Block and you will pull up the trees

Now you have to be very careful about taking as fact everything you see in family trees on any website(free or paid). Most is ot documented. You might see different information from different submitters on the same person and then you will see over and over the same information on the same person from different submitters without documentation. All too often, people are copying without verifying and there are errors in family trees on the internet.

If once you pull up the trees and you see something that interest you, probe a name and it will take you to a screen that will give you the name and email address of the submitter.

Since you ask the origin of a surname, please see the links below about peddlers of surname products

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/faq.ht...

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerp... http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?na...

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact... I'm pretty sure it's English (from the first name James). The surname James comes from the given name James, which is Hebrew in origin. A cereal packet?