Jim
/dʒɪm/noun
A familiar English form of the personal name James, also used informally to mean an ordinary man.
Did you know?“Jim Crow,” originally a racist minstrel character named in an 1830s song, later became the name for legalized racial segregation in the United States.
Etymological Timeline
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
Yaʿăqōḇ
“Jacob, traditionally connected with “heel” and the idea of supplanting or overtaking”
Ancient Greek
Greek
Iakōbos
“The Greek form of Jacob”
Late Antiquity
Latin
Iacobus
“The Latin biblical name from which the later James forms developed”
Medieval English
English
James
“The English form of the biblical name”
Middle English
English
Jem / Jim
“Shortened and familiar forms of James”
Modern English
English
Jim
“A familiar male given name and an informal term for an ordinary man”