Diego

Oddly enough, the name Diego is a Spanish form of the name James which is ultimately a derivative of Jacob. This example gives us a lesson in etymology and a clear study on how languages evolve over time. The original Hebrew name for Jacob (Ya'akov) took different directions in the English and Spanish languages over the years, and ended up with the most common forms, James and Diego, respectively. (For more information on the etymological origin, see Jacob). James was derived from the Hebrew (Yaakov) to the Greek (Iacomus) to the French (Gemme) and finally to modern-day English version of James. Diego’s travel trough time is not so straightforward, however. It’s thought that the Greek Iacomus was shortened to Iaco and then to Yago. Sant Yago (“sant” being an old Spanish word for saint) eventually became Santiago, which is how Spanish-speaking people refer to the book of James in the New Testament. Iago was essentially lengthened into Tiago which finally morphed into Diego. Most people think Jaime is the Spanish translation for James when, in fact, it’s Diego. Learn something new every day! Just to confuse things more, Diego is also often associated with the Latin "Didacus" (learned person, teacher). The Franciscan lay brother and later saint, Didacus of Alcalá, is usually referred to in the English language as San Diego de Alcalá (the namesake of San Diego, California). However, it appears to be agreed that forming Diego from the Latin “Didacus” was a later effort of etymological reverse engineering.