Samuel

Where Samuel comes from

From Latin Samuēl, from Ancient Greek Σαμουήλ (Samouḗl), from Biblical Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל (šəmûʾēl, literally “'God has set' or 'God has placed'”). Taken to mean a contraction of popular folk etymology שְׁאִלְתִּיו מֵאֵל (“I have asked/borrowed him from God”) (Modern: Šəʾīltīv mēʾĒl, Tiberian: Šĭʾīltīw mēʾĒl) by way of שָׁאוּל מֵאֵל (“asked/borrowed from God”) from 1 Samuel 1:20.
— Wiktionary's entry for Samuel
  • Hebrew
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1709
    Samuel Johnson born
    English writer and lexicographer
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #17 among boys — 1,024 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1906
    Samuel Beckett born
    Irish writer
  4. 2024
    Peak, #17
    8,355 babies named Samuel — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2024
    The comeback
    Back to #17 after sinking to #91 in 1960.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Hebrew.
Namesakes
  • Samuel Beckett · Irish writer, 1906–1989
  • Samuel Johnson · English writer and lexicographer, 1709–1784
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge · English poet, literary critic and philosopher, 1772–1834
  • Samuel Finley Breese Morse · American inventor and painter, 1791–1872
  • Samuel L. Jackson · American actor, born 1948

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.