James 1:1, James. The Testimony of Yeshua records five men with the name James/Jacob/Ya’acov. They are:
James the Greater (Elder), the brother of John and one of the twelve apostles. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome. James was killed by King Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:1–2).
James the Less was the son of Alphaeus. He was one of the twelve apostles (Matt 10:1–3, Mark 3:14–19; Luke 6:13–16; Acts 1:13)
James is also the name of one of the half-brothers of Yeshua, and probably the author of the book of the Bible that bears his name. He was most likely the apostolic leader of the Messianic community in Jerusalem (Matt 13:55; Acts 1:14 [i.e., Yeshua’s “brothers”]; 15:13; 21:18; Gal 1:19) whom history calls James the Just and whom the Jews martyred in Jerusalem in 62 AD (see Josephus’ Ant. 20:9). (Galatians 1:19).
James, the father of the Apostle Judas (not Iscariot, Acts 1:13).
James who was the brother of Joses and the son of Mary (Matt 27:56).
His name was Jacob. King James had the Epistle of Jacob named after himself in the KJV…James. MF
The Book of James was not named after King James. This is urban legend. I address this issue and give the facts about this in this blog post: http://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/2013/04/26/james-named-after-king-james/