Samantha
Pronunciation | /səˈmænθə/ sə-MAN-thə |
---|---|
Gender | Female |
Origin | |
Word/name | English |
Meaning | God heard; listener[1] |
Region of origin | United States |
Other names | |
Nickname(s) | Sam, Sammy |
Related names | Sam, Sammy, Sami, Sammi, Sammie |
Samantha is a feminine given name. It was first recorded in the 18th century in New England, but its etymology is unknown.[2] Speculation (without evidence) has suggested an origin from the masculine given name Samuel[3] and anthos, the Greek word for "flower".[4] A variant of this speculation is that it may have been a feminine form of Samuel with the addition of the already existing feminine name Anthea.[3]
It remained a rare name until the publication, beginning in 1873, of a series of ten books by Marietta Holley featuring the adventures of a lady called Samantha, wife of Josiah Allen.[2] This led to the rise in its popularity and its increasing ranking among the top 1,000 names for girls in the United States from 1880, the earliest year for which records are available, to 1902.[5]
It was out of fashion in the United States for majority of the first half of the 20th century, but reappeared among the top 1,000 names for girls in 1958, when it ranked in 998th position, and in 1959, when it ranked in 993rd place. It fell off the top 1,000 list once again until 1964, when it reappeared in 472nd place, and leapt another 293 places to 179th place in the ratings in 1965. The name's popularity coincided with the debut in 1964 of the television show Bewitched, which featured as the lead character a young witch named Samantha Stephens. The name has remained consistently popular in the United States since the 1960s. It ranked among the top 200 names for girls since 1965 and among the top 100 names for girls since 1976. It was among the 10 most popular names for girls born in the United States between 1988 and 2006. It ranked as the 15th most popular name for American girls born in 2009.[6]
Variants
Samantha has 24 variants that are used in both English and other languages. Variants of Samantha used in English include Samanthi, Samanthia, Samatha, Samella, Samintha, and Symantha. Other English forms include the short form Sam, the pet forms Sami, Sammi, Samii, Sammie, and Sammy, Samy and the variant spellings Samanta (used in Polish, French, and German), Samanthe, and Sammantha. In recent years, the name has gained popularity in India.
Notable people
- Samantha Albert, Canadian-born equestrian who represents Jamaica in international competition
- Samantha Armytage, Australian journalist and television news reporter
- Samantha Arsenault, American swimmer and Olympic champion
- Samantha Barks, singer and actress from the Isle of Man
- Samantha Barning, Dutch professional badminton player
- Samantha Béart, British actress
- Samantha Beckinsale, English actress
- Samantha Bee, Canadian actress and comedian
- Samantha Bond, English actress
- Sam Brown (singer), English singer
- Samantha Brown, American television host
- Samantha Browne-Walters, American actress
- Samantha Buck, American actress
- Aunt Samantha Bumgarner, acclaimed country and folk music performer of the early 1900s
- Samantha Cameron, (née Sheffield, born 1971), English business executive and wife of politician David Cameron
- Samantha Casey, American teen beauty queen
- Lan Samantha Chang, American writer of novels and short stories
- Samantha Cole, American dance-pop singer/songwriter
- Samantha Cook, Canadian actress and radio personality
- Samantha Cools, Canadian Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer
- Samantha Cope, American actress
- Samantha Cornish, professional surfer from New South Wales, Australia
- Samantha Davies, British yachtswoman
- Samantha Dorman, American model and actress
- Samantha Dorrance, British actor and dancer
- Samantha Downie, Australian model
- Samantha Droke, American actress
- Samantha Dubois, Dutch radio presenter
- Samantha Eggar, English actress
- Samantha Ferris, Canadian actress and television reporter
- Samantha Fox, English former glamour model and dance-pop singer
- Samantha Giancola, American television personality and actress
- Samantha Giles, British actress
- Samantha Gillison, American author
- Sammy Glenn, English actress
- Samantha Hammel, American actress, singer, theatre director, choreographer and record producer
- Samantha Harris, American television presenter
- Sam Healy, Australian actress
- Samantha Heath, British politician
- Samantha Holland, English actress
- Samantha Holvey, American beauty queen
- Samantha Howard Corbin, American television writer and producer
- Samantha Inoue-Harte, anime voice actress
- Samantha Jade, singer-songwriter also known as Samantha Gibbs
- Samantha James, American dance musician
- Samantha Janus, now Samantha Womack, (born 1972), English actress and singer
- Samantha Johnson, American actress, filmmaker, and beauty queen
- Samantha Jones (singer), née Jean Owen, English singer and entertainer
- Samantha Judge, field hockey forward from Scotland
- Samantha Juste, née Sandra Slater, the “disc girl” on the 1960s BBC television show Top of the Pops
- Samantha Kerr, Australian association footballer
- Samantha Ketipe, Sri Lankan-born Italian cricketer
- Samantha Lam, Chinese-Canadian equestrian
- Samantha Lane, Australian television personality and sports reporter
- Samantha Larson, American mountain climber
- Samantha Leigh Martin, former child actor from England
- Samantha Lewes, American actress also known as Susan Jane Dillingham and Samantha Dillingham
- Samantha Lewis, former teenage actress
- Samantha Maloney, American musician
- Samantha Mathis, American actress
- Samantha Morton, English actress
- Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress
- Samantha Page,a newscaster on Naked News
- Samantha Peszek, American gymnast
- Samantha Reeves, American tennis player
- Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian actress
- Samantha Sang, Australian pop singer
- Samantha Saint, American pornographic actress
- Samantha Smith, child peace activist and actress who died in a plane crash at age 13
- Samantha Smith (tennis), British tennis player
- Samantha Stosur, Australian tennis player
Fictional characters
- Samantha, an artificial intelligence in the film Her (2013), initially played by Samantha Morton
- Samantha Albertson, from Now and Then (1995)
- Samantha Anderson, on the American TV soap opera As the World Turns
- Samantha Best, on the television show The Best Years
- Sami Brady, on the American soap opera Days of our Lives
- Samantha Byrd, main character of the Goosebumps book Be Careful of What You Wish For...
- Samantha Byrne, in the video game Gears of War 3
- Sammy Jo Carrington, character in the American TV series Dynasty
- Samantha Carter, in the television show Stargate SG-1
- Samantha Darko, in the film Donnie Darko
- Samantha Harrop, in the British 1980s sitcom Me and My Girl
- Samantha Jones (Sex and the City), in the television show Sex and the City
- Sam Jones (Doctor Who), in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels
- Samantha Keeble, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders
- Samantha Kelly, on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful
- Samantha Manson, a teenage goth girl from the Nickelodeon cartoon Danny Phantom
- Samantha Jane "Sam" Marquez, on the TV series Las Vegas
- Samantha Micelli, on the TV show Who's the Boss?
- Sam McCall, on the American soap opera General Hospital
- Sam Mitchell, on the BBC One soap opera EastEnders
- Samantha Mulder, Fox Mulder's sister on the TV show The X-Files. Samantha was abducted by aliens before the show's start.
- Samantha Parkington, in the American Girl collection of books and dolls
- Samantha Roth, in the television show 24
- Samantha Stephens, main character in 1960's sitcom Bewitched played by Elizabeth Montgomery, and credited with the surge in popularity of the name during this time.
- Samantha Fitzgerald, recurring character on the Australian soap opera Neighbours
- Samantha "Sam" Puckett, an aggressive and abusive teenager in the Nickelodeon TV show iCarly and the spin-off Sam and Cat
- Samantha Simpson, main character in the television show Totally Spies
- Samantha Spade, in the TV series Without a Trace
- Samantha Taggart, in the TV show ER
- Samantha Traynor, in the video game Mass Effect 3
- Samantha, the exotic but silent scorer referred to in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
- Samantha, in Need for Speed Underground
- Samantha "Sam", a main character from the CBBC show Dani's House
- Samantha "Sam", a main character in the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Samantha the cat, in the 1989 New Zealand black comedy film Meet the Feebles
- Sam, in the film Garden State
References
- ^ http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Samantha
- ^ a b Withycombe, E. G. (1977). The Concise Dictionary of English Christian Names. Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b "Samantha". Mike Campbell. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
- ^ World Almanac, 2009 edition pp.697-698, Dr. Cleveland Kent Evans, Bellevue University
- ^ Social Security Administration
- ^ ssa.gov