(male) English form of the name borne in the New Testament by two of Christ's disciples, James son of Zebedee and James son of Alphaeus. This form comes from Late Latin Iacomus, a variant of Iacobus, Latin form of Greek Iakobos. This is the same name as Old Testament Jacob (Hebrew Yaakov), but for many centuries now they have been thought of in the English-speaking world as two distinct names. In Britain, James is a royal name that from the beginning of the 15th century onwards was associated particularly with the Scottish house of Stewart: James I of Scotland (1394–1437; ruled 1424–37) was a patron of the arts and a noted poet, as well as an energetic ruler. King James VI of Scotland (1566–1625; reigned 1567–1625) succeeded to the throne of England in 1603. His grandson, James II of England (1633–1701; reigned 1685–8) was a Roman Catholic, deposed in 1688 in favour of his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. From then on he, his son (also called James), and his grandson Charles (‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’) made various unsuccessful attempts to recover the English throne. Their supporters were known as Jacobites (from Latin Iacobus), and the name James became for a while particularly associated with Roman Catholicism on the one hand, and Highland opposition to the English government on the other. Nevertheless, it has since become one of the most perennially popular boys' names.
Short form: Jim.
Pet forms: Jamey, Jamie, Jimmy, Jimmie.
Cognates: Irish: Séamas, Séamus, Seumas, Seumus. Scottish Gaelic: Seumas. Scottish (Anglicized); Hamish. Dutch: Jaume. French: Jacques. Spanish: Jaime. Catalan: Jaume. Portuguese: Jaime(s). Italian: Giacomo.
English: topographic name for someone who lived by a grove or thicket, Middle English grove, Old English grāf.
English (Huguenot): Americanized spelling of the French surname Le Grou(x) or Le Greux (see Groulx).
North German form of Grob.
North German: habitational name from any of several places named Grove or Groven in Schleswig-Holstein, which derive their name from Middle Low Germany grōve ‘ditch’, ‘channel’. In some cases the name is a Dutch or Low German form of Grube.
Altered form of German Graf.
FOREBEARS The surnames Grove and Groves are common mainly in the West Midlands. A Huguenot family who acquired the name Grove are descended from a certain Isaac Le Greux or Grou(x) or his brother. They fled from Tours in France in the late 17th century and settled in Spitalfields, London. Their children were known as Grou(x) or Grove; their grandchildren also used the form Grew; but their great-grandchildren, born at the end of the 18th century, were universally Grove.