Samantha

Where Samantha comes from

It was recorded in the 17th century in England. Most probably a feminine form of Samuel, possibly influenced by Anthea. Other suggestions include Aramaic ܫܡܥܢܬܐ (šemʿanta, “listener”, noun), from ܫܡܥ. In India, Samantha can be interpreted as a variant spelling of Samanta, from Sanskrit समन्त (samanta, “universal, adjacent”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Samantha
  • Hebrew
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Samantha through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #352 among girls, with 21 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1964
    Around this time: Bewitched
    TV, 1964 · Source
    “After 1959, the name fell off the top 1,000 list again until 1964, when it reappeared in 472nd place and leapt another 293 places to 179th place in 1965, coinciding with the 1964 debut of the popular American television show Bewitched, featuring as a lead character a young witch named Samantha Stephens.”
  3. 1972
    Samantha Smith born
    American peace activist and child actress
  4. 1984
    Samantha Stosur born
    Australian tennis player
  5. 1998
    Peak, #3
    20,195 babies named Samantha, its best rank.
  6. 2009
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #14.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Hebrew.
Namesakes
  • Samantha Stosur · Australian tennis player, born 1984
  • Samantha Smith · American peace activist and child actress, 1972–1985
  • Samantha Cristoforetti · Italian European Space Agency astronaut, former Italian Air Force pilot and engineer, born 1977
  • Samantha Fox · British singer, born 1966
  • Samantha Morton · British actress, born 1977

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record. Events show what happened around then, not why parents chose the name. Quotes are from the linked Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).