English vs Spanish: Fist Names (2)

While most names in English have a somewhat similar version in Spanish the same cannot be said about all names. Robert is Roberto or Ruperto, Charles is Carlos, Elizabeth is Isabel, Fred is Federico and so on. But there is a name in English that can be translated into not one but four different names in Spanish and that is none other than JAMES. Believe it or not, James can be translated into JAIME, JACOBO, DIEGO and SANTIAGO.

Of course, Jacobo is most likely translated into Jacob and Jaime into James but those are not the only possibilities. It happens that originally there was only the Latin name Iacobus, which is the origen of the name Jacob, however, later on Iacobus derived into Iacomus, the most likely predecessor of James. James derived into Jaimein Spanish  as years passed by. James also had an old Spanish/Portuguese form: Yago. One of the earliest Christian saints was named James, that is Saint James which in Spanish would be SAN YAGO. That was obviously the origin of the name Santiago. It is believed that Diego is a short form of Santiago.

So if you ever wondered how to say Santiago or Diego in English, just like Jaime the correct form is James. By the way, Santiago is one of the most popular Christian names and in fact many cities around the world bear this name: Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Chile, Santiago de Cuba, even my hometown is named after Santiago the Greater, hence its name: Santiago de Guayaquil.