Today it means: A gulf of Nunavut, Canada, at the southern end of Hudson Bay, Arctic Ocean. A large sub-arctic sea surrounded on three sides by land of Ontario (on the west and south) and Quebec (on the east and south), the southernmost extension of the Arctic Ocean. Full definition →
James + bay; * (Arctic Ocean): Named after Thomas James, who explored the region in the 1630s * (Vancouver Island): Named after James Douglas, Governor General of the crown colony of British Columbia
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.