Samantha

Where the name comes from

• English (origin uncertain)
  Origin uncertain; no attested meaning
  Unknown. A derivation from Samuel is asserted in one popular reference (Dunkling, as reported in 2002), but no openable scholarly source confirms it.
  Popular, unsupported: “listener”, a supposed Hebrew meaning, apparently borrowed from Samuel; it circulates in baby-name lists. Also popular and unverified: Samuel + Greek anthos ‘flower’. Neither has scholarly support. The name was used in the United States in the 19th century: Marietta Holley wrote as “Samantha Allen” from the 1870s. It rose sharply in the late 20th century.

Samantha across traditions

• American literature (19th century). Humorist Marietta Holley (1836–1926) spread women’s-rights and temperance ideas under the pen names “Josiah Allen’s Wife” and “Samantha Allen”, in books including Samantha at the Centennial (1876).
• American television. In the ABC sitcom Bewitched (1964–1972), Samantha, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, is a suburban housewife who is also a witch. The SSA decade tables first show Samantha in the top 200 in the 1970s, after the show began. A causal link is often claimed but is not shown here.
• Spanish and Italian. Samanta is used as a feminine given name, described as “from English, equivalent to English Samantha”: a borrowing, not an old native form.
• United States (SSA). Combined births in the seven SSA decade tables: 565,295 girls. Absent from the 1950s and 1960s top 200. It entered at #109 in the 1970s (28,906), rose to #26 in the 1980s (121,124), peaked at #5 in the 1990s (224,023), then #8 in the 2000s (134,313) and #33 in the 2010s (56,929).

Who carried it

• Marietta Holley (pen name “Samantha Allen”) (July 16, 1836 – March 1, 1926): American humorist whose Samantha persona carried the name through a long-running book series; her first book appeared in 1873.

Forms in other languages

Samanta

Samantha 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.