Names

James

James is Jacob in disguise. Spoken Latin turned Iacobus into Iacomus, and Old French wore that down to James, which gave the burglar's jimmy via the pet form Jemmy, while Giacomo, Jaime, Jaume, Santiago and Welsh Iago grew from the same stem. In Gaelic it became Séamus and Seumas — returning to English as Hamish — and missionaries took it to Hawaii as Kimo and to New Zealand as Hēmi.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to American English

From Late Latin to Italian

From Late Latin to Spanish

From Late Latin to French

From Late Latin to Catalan

From Late Latin to Portuguese

From Old French to Middle Irish, Irish

From Middle Irish to Scottish Gaelic, English

From English to American English

From English to Hawaiian

From English to Māori

From Late Latin to Welsh

From Late Latin to Spanish, Tagalog

From Spanish to Mexican Spanish

From Koine Greek to Georgian

750 BCEBiblical Hebrew

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.