Overview
James is an English language given name of Hebrew origin, most commonly used for males.
Etymology
It is a modern descendant, through Old French James, of Vulgar Latin Iacomus (cf. Italian Giacomo, Portuguese Tiago, Spanish Iago, Santiago), a derivative version of Latin Iacobus, Latin form of the Hebrew name Jacob (original ). The final -s in the English first names is typical of those borrowed from Old French, where it was the former masculine subject case (cf. Giles, Miles, Charles, etc.). James is a very popular name in English-speaking populations.
Since in Spanish and its derivatives the J is pronounced (Kh), many Jews used this name for representing the Hebrew name of Haim, also written as Chaim (pronounced ) or its similar forms in Spanish and English like Jack, Jaime, Jamie or Jim, even though the origins of the two names (Haim and Jacob) are very different.
Forms of James
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).