How many “James” are there in the New Testament?

The original name, Jacob, was the name of Abraham’s grandson, the son of Isaac:. His twelve sons became the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel. (see Genesis 25:18 – 50:12). As such, the name appeared to have a deserved popularity among first century Jews. In the New Testament there are possibly as many as four Jacob/James:

  1. James, the son of Zebedee, the brother of John and the close companion of Jesus, who according to custom is buried in Santiago de Compostela.
  2. James, the son of Alpheus, another one of the twelve apostles (see Matt 10:3).
  3. James, the “brother” of the Lord (see Mark 6:3), presumed to be the leader of the Christian community of Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 15:13-21), and understood by some to be the author of the Epistle of James, though that is contested.
  4. James, the brother of Jude (Jude 1:1)

Depending on whom you read, the last three James above are either three persons, or just one, referred to as James the Less, (from Mark 15:40, where he is called mikrou, meaning “younger,” or perhaps, “less in esteem”).

The one that matters for us is the first, James the son of Zebedee, who with Peter and his brother John, accompanies Jesus for his first miracle (Mark 1:29), at the transfiguration (Mark 9:2), for the resuscitation of the synagogue leader’s daughter (Mark 5:37), at the Mount of Olives for a private conversation along with Andrew (Mark 13:3 and in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33; see also 5:37; 10:35; 13:3). In each of these moments, Peter, James and John appear to be a small grouping among the Twelve, particularly close to Jesus.

The trouble is actually with the English form of the name, which is not particularly close to the original biblical name. The closest English name would actually be “Jacob.”

Over time, the name has had a variety of forms in various languages:

  1. Hebrew: יַעֲקֹ֑ב or Ya’acov, commonly pronounced and spelled as “Jacob” in English.
  2. Greek: pronounced “Yácobos.”
  3. Latin: Iacobus, and later Iacomus.
  4. In English, the middle syllable, “co,” of the Late Latin Iacomus, dropped out. As happens often in English with Biblical names, the initial syllable hardened from a “y” sound into a “j” sound – “Jesus,” from Yeshua, is an example. With all these gradual changes, Yacob evolved into Jamus, and with yet more time, into “James.” The English name went through many more changes than the Spanish.
  5. In Spanish, Iacobus evolved into Iago, with the result that Sanctus Iacobus (“Saint Jacob”) evolved a much shorter distance to Santo Iago, hence, Santiago.

This may be more than you ever wanted to know…but there it is.