It might seem odd to most people that the name James only appears at number 17 on the list of the most popular boys names. Indeed, take a look a few years back to the previous generation, and James was not only on the top 10 list, but it had been there for over a hundred years, some of these years topping the list, and even appearing in the list of top 1000 names for girls. However, even considering the decline of the name and the fact it has left the top 10 in 1993, there's little doubt the name will stay popular for a long time. This seems like a case of cyclical popularity, and as soon as people realize the name isn't as popular as they had thought, they might consider using it for their newborns.
The name James actually comes indirectly from the biblical name Jacob. The name went through several translations (Hebrew to Greek to Latin to French to English) and Jacob became James.
Although the name James appears in the New Testament, it really gained its popularity after King James of Scotland became the ruler of Britain.
Because the name has gone through so many transformation, it appears in many variations across many languages for males (Akiba, Séamus, Yasha) and females (Jackie, Jaye).
