Samantha
Meaning of Samantha
Samantha is a lively blend of old-world grace and modern sparkle. Most historians trace her roots to colonial America, where someone took the sturdy Hebrew classic Samuel (“God has heard”) and dressed it up with the Greek-inspired suffix -antha (“flower”), yielding a meaning that feels like “a prayer answered in bloom.” Over the decades Samantha has worn many hats—witchy charm in the 1960s sitcom Bewitched, cosmopolitan confidence via Samantha Jones of Sex and the City, and even zero-gravity grit thanks to astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. In Anglo-American circles she’s affectionately shortened to Sam, Sammie, or the extra-sunny Sami, proving she can rough-and-tumble with the boys one moment and sip tea with the grandmothers the next. Popularity-wise, she shot up the charts in the late-20th-century, peaking in the exuberant ’90s, and while her numbers have cooled since, she still hovers in the sweet spot between familiar and fresh—ready to give any little girl a name that listens, blooms, and shines.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as suh-MAN-thuh (/səˈmænθə/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Samantha
| Samantha Ruth Prabhu is a leading Indian actress in Telugu and Tamil films, among the highest paid in South India, with four Filmfare Awards South, two Nandi Awards, and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award. |
| Samantha Jane Morton is an English actress and musician known for dark period dramas and independent films, with two BAFTAs, a Golden Globe, and nominations for two Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy. |
| Samantha Power is an Irish American journalist and diplomat who served as US Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017 and as USAID Administrator from 2021 to 2025. |
| Samantha Reed Smith was an American child actress and peace activist who gained fame during the Cold War after writing to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov in 1982 and accepting his invitation to visit the Soviet Union. |
| Samantha Anne Bee is a Canadian and American comedian, television host, and political commentator. |
| Samantha Urbani is an American singer songwriter and visual artist from Mystic, Connecticut who formed the band Friends and later toured with Dev Hynes before launching a solo career. |
| Samantha Spiro is an English actress and singer known for portraying Barbara Windsor on stage and TV, appearing in MIT Murder Investigation Team, Game of Thrones, and Sex Education, and winning two Laurence Olivier Awards. |
| Samantha Cameron, Baroness Cameron of Chipping Norton, is an English businesswoman, former Smythson creative director turned part-time consultant, and wife of David Cameron, UK prime minister 2010-2016 and foreign secretary 2023-2024. |
| Samantha Mathis is an American actress and union leader who served as a SAG AFTRA vice president from 2015 to 2019 and is known for films like Pump Up the Volume, Little Women, and American Psycho, and for roles on The Strain and Billions. |
| Samantha Irby is an American comedian and writer, a bestselling author of We Are Never Meeting in Real Life and Wow No Thank You, and a 2021 Lambda Literary Award winner for bisexual nonfiction. |
| Samantha Armytage is an Australian television presenter and journalist. |
| Samantha Martel Johnson is an American soccer defender who has played for NWSL clubs Chicago Red Stars and Utah Royals and Australian clubs Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC, and Melbourne City. |
| Samantha May, also known as Sam May, is a former Australian netballer who won three of five Netball Superleague grand finals with Mavericks, Wasps and Loughborough Lightning, and also played for Sydney Swifts, AIS Canberra Darters and New South Wales Swifts. |
| Samantha Bosco is an American Paralympic cyclist who won two bronze medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. |
| Samantha Harvey is an English novelist who won the 2024 Booker Prize for Orbital, a novel blending literary fiction, science fiction, and philosophy. |
