Amanda

Where the name comes from

• Latin
  worthy to be loved; meant to be loved
  amanda, feminine gerundive of amare "to love"; feminine counterpart of the saint’s name Amandus
  Yonge: "worthy to be beloved"; etymonline: "literally ‘worthy to be loved’ … gerundive of amare ‘to love’"; DMNES: "meant to be loved." Coinage date disputed. Withycombe called it a 17th-century invention. DMNES rejects that, citing Amandine in England (Walloon) in 1591 and 1593. The exact form Amanda is in English literary use by 1653 (Nicholas Hookes, Amanda, a Sacrifice to an Unknown Goddesse).

Amanda across traditions

• Latin Christian (Flanders / France). The masculine Amandus was borne by St. Amandus (St. Amand), bishop of Maastricht about 649 (about 1,377 years ago) and "one of the great apostles of Flanders"; feast February 6. French Amand is the same name (Yonge).
• English literary. Used as a poetic name in Nicholas Hookes’s Amanda (London, 1653). Wiktionary (uncited) says it entered regular English given-name use from 18th-century literature.
• Nordic and Baltic. First recorded in Sweden in 1735 and as a Latvian given name in 1893 (Wiktionary, citing Otterbjörk 1996 and Siliņš 1990).
• United States (SSA). 748,615 combined births, 1950s–2010s. Entered the top 200 at #199 in the 1960s, rose to #17 (1970s), peaked at #3 in the 1980s (369,727), then #6 (1990s) and #63 (2000s). etymonline: "A top 10 list name for girls born in U.S. between 1976 and 1995."

Who carried it

• St. Amandus (Amand), masculine root-name bearer (born about the end of the 6th century; bishop of Maastricht about 649 (about 1,377 years ago)): Missionary bishop called one of the great apostles of Flanders.

Forms in other languages

Mandy, Amandine, Amandus, Amand

Amanda in letter-number systems

Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.