Samantha

Girl · English (American)

Samantha

Say it: suh-MAN-thuh

Meaning

Probably an 18th-century American coinage combining Samuel with the ending -antha. The claim that it means 'listener' (from Aramaic) is an invented derivation.

Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.

A rare rural American name until the TV series Bewitched (1964), it peaked in the US in the 1990s.

Its wave through time

Fading since the 1990s

In the United States

582,173 babies given this name since 1880
At its height in 1991, about 1 in 73 girls
2,929 babies in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

American English

Famous bearers

Samantha Stephens, heroine of the TV series Bewitched

Names worth a look

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Where this comes from

Colonial records of the Americas
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.