Is James in the Bible? Yes, It Is the English Form of Jacob

Yes. James is the English form of Jacob. Several men in the New Testament bear the Greek name Iakobos, from the Hebrew Ya’aqov, and English Bibles call them James: two of the twelve apostles, the brother of Jesus who led the church in Jerusalem, and the father of one of the Twelve.

Are James and Jacob the same name?

Yes. Both come from the Hebrew Ya’aqov, the name of the patriarch Jacob. Genesis explains it by his birth: Jacob came out after his twin “with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob” (Genesis 25:26). Later Esau turns the name against him: “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times” (Genesis 27:36). The name is therefore usually given as “holder of the heel” or “supplanter.” Some scholars think it began as a longer name meaning “may God protect.”

The two English names come from two Greek spellings. The New Testament calls the patriarch Iakōb, the Hebrew name in Greek letters, as in “Isaac the father of Jacob” (Matthew 1:2), and its own men Iakōbos, the same name with a Greek ending. Latin made these Iacob and Iacobus, and in later Latin Iacobus became Iacomus, the source of the English and Old French James, the Spanish Jaime and the Italian Giacomo.

Many languages keep one name for both. Russian Bibles call the patriarch and the apostles Iakov, the everyday Russian form being Yakov, and Japanese translations such as the Living Bible call them all Yakobu. Others separate them as English does: French has Jacob and Jacques, Italian Giacobbe and Giacomo, and German Jakob and Jakobus. Spanish uses Jacobo, Jaime and Santiago, “Saint James.”

Was the name James added by King James?

No. The King James Version of 1611 takes its name from King James VI of Scotland and I of England, who sponsored the translation, but English Bibles called these men James long before him. Wycliffe’s translation, made in the late 14th century, already names “James of Zebedee” among the Twelve (Mark 3:17) and opens the letter of James with “James, the servant of God.” James has been used as a first name in England since the 13th century.

Who is James in the Bible?

The New Testament names at least four men called James. The first, James the son of Zebedee, was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus saw him “and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets,” and called them (Mark 1:19–20). He gave the two brothers the name Boanerges, “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17), and took them with Peter when he raised Jairus’s daughter, on the mountain of the Transfiguration, and into Gethsemane (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). Around AD 44 King Herod, usually identified as Herod Agrippa I, “killed James the brother of John with the sword” (Acts 12:2), and he was the first of the Twelve to die as a martyr. He is called James the Great, or the Greater, meaning older or taller than the other apostle James, not more important.

The second, James the son of Alphaeus, appears in every list of the Twelve (Mark 3:18; Matthew 10:3; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13), and the New Testament says nothing more about him. He is often identified with “James the younger,” whose mother Mary watched the crucifixion (Mark 15:40). The King James Version calls that man “James the less,” and the apostle is often called James the Less.

The third, James the brother of the Lord, is named first among the brothers of Jesus: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?” (Mark 6:3). During Jesus’ ministry “not even his brothers believed in him” (John 7:5), but Paul lists James among those to whom the risen Christ appeared (1 Corinthians 15:7). He became the leading figure of the church in Jerusalem. At the council of Jerusalem it was James who gave the judgment “that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God” (Acts 15:19), and Paul calls him one of the church’s “pillars” (Galatians 2:9). Eusebius’s Church History preserves two early accounts of him. The Jewish historian Josephus records that in about AD 62 the high priest Ananus had “the brother of Jesus, the so-called Christ, James by name” condemned to be stoned. Hegesippus, who calls him James the Just, says he prayed so often that “his knees became hard like those of a camel.”

The fourth, James the father of Judas, is known only through his son, one of the Twelve and not Judas Iscariot. Luke calls the son “Judas the son of James” (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13). The Greek says only “Judas of James,” and the King James Version reads it as “Judas the brother of James.”

Was James really the brother of Jesus?

Churches answer this differently. The Greek word for brother can also mean a relative. The Catholic Church holds that the brothers of Jesus were relatives, usually taken to be cousins, and traditionally identifies James the brother of the Lord with James the son of Alphaeus. It keeps his feast with the apostle Philip on 3 May. The Orthodox Church holds that they were sons of Joseph by an earlier marriage, and keeps the feast of James the brother of the Lord on 23 October, separately from James the son of Alphaeus. The most common Protestant view is that they were younger sons of Mary and Joseph.

Who wrote the Letter of James?

The letter opens: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” (James 1:1). Tradition names the brother of the Lord as its author; the writer does not say which James he is. Eusebius noted in the 4th century that the letter was disputed and that few early writers quoted it, and many modern scholars think it was written later in James’s name. It is best known for what it says about faith and works: “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). It also warns about the power of the tongue, describes “the wisdom from above,” tells believers to visit “orphans and widows in their affliction,” and asks the elders of the church to pray over and anoint the sick (James 1:27; 3:5–8, 17; 5:14–16).

Saint James and Santiago de Compostela

The Catholic Church keeps the feast of James the son of Zebedee on 25 July, and he is the patron saint of Spain. According to tradition his remains lie at Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia in northwestern Spain. Local tradition dates the finding of his tomb to the 9th century, and the shrine became the goal of the pilgrimage routes known as the Way of St. James, or the Camino de Santiago.

Is James a Christian name?

Yes. It is the name of two apostles and of the brother of the Lord. In medieval England Jacob was regarded mainly as a Jewish name, while Christians used James; Jacob came into general Christian use only after the Reformation. In the United States it has never been outside the top 20 names for boys since records began in 1880. It was the most popular boys’ name from 1940 to 1952 and ranked 6th in 2025. Jamie began as a Lowland Scots short form of James.

Related reading

• What Does Jacob Symbolize in the Bible?
• Is Jude a Biblical Name? Yes, and It Is Judas Without the Shadow
• Why Is Faith Without Works Dead?
• Who Were the 12 Apostles?

Related reading

• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names