Jimmey

History & Origin

Jimmey is a variant spelling of Jimmy, itself the familiar short form of James. James comes through Latin and Greek from Jacob, Hebrew Ya'aqov, traditionally 'supplanter' or 'holder of the heel'. Mid-century American informality turned Jimmy into a birth name in its own right, and the -ey spelling is one homespun way it was written.

Jimmey appears as a scattered rarity even at the height of Jimmy's popularity, a few dozen boys a year at its faint peak around the nineteen-forties. It reads as a casual, mid-century spelling; James endures as a classic and Jimmy as its friendly form, leaving Jimmey an uncommon variant of the pair.