James traces back to the Hebrew Jacob, and its traditional meaning is often given as 'supplanter' or 'one who follows' -- though the name has been reshaped by centuries of use into something that reads more like steadiness than rivalry. It's a name commonly linked with quiet reliability rather than any dramatic origin story.
It's rare if any Planet prove a fortune in the eighth or twelfth, by reason of the malignancy of those Houses. - William Lilly (1602.-1681.)