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
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #352 among girls — 21 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1972
    Samantha Smith born
    American peace activist and child actress
  3. 1984
    Samantha Stosur born
    Australian tennis player
  4. 1998
    Peak, #3
    20,195 babies named Samantha — more than any year before or since.
  5. 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.