1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/James

JAMES (a variant of the name Jacob, Heb. יַעֲקֹב, one who holds by the heel, outwitter, through O. Fr. James, another form of Jacques, Jaques, from Low Lat. Jacobus; cf. Ital. Jacopo [Jacob], Giacomo [James], Prov. Jacme, Cat. Jaume, Cast. Jaime), a masculine proper name popular in Christian countries as having been that of two of Christ’s apostles. It has been borne by many sovereigns and other princes, the most important of whom are noticed below, after the heading devoted to the characters in the New Testament, in the following order: (1) kings of England and Scotland, (2) other kings in the alphabetical order of their countries, (3) the “Old Pretender.” The article on the Epistle of James in the New Testament follows after the remaining biographical articles in which James is a surname.