View Message

I knew one in high school. I like it.

This message was edited 4/26/2014, 8:52 AM

I like it, it s more interesting than Amanda.

I've never liked it - I think it's borderline tacky and that Amanda is far more classy.
I've always attributed its popularity outside America to the English movie star Samantha Eggar who was big in the '60s when I think it started taking off there.

Man, I must have been the only kid in the world who had no idea who the American Girl dolls were. I still don't know, really.

---

Anyway, Samantha is a pretty, solid sort of name. I have a younger cousin named Samantha. I love Sam/Sammy as nicknames.

This message was edited 4/24/2014, 4:24 PM

To me, Natalie and Amanda are "classics"* while Samantha is more "80's". However, I actually like Samantha better than those other names.

---

I have a cousin named Samantha 'Sam'. I like Sam and Samantha. I think they both have a better feel than a lot of the names from that era-- they don't sound bossy or girly or anything. They sound like names that would belong to an honest sort of person (unlike Jennifer, Melissa, etc). Samantha is slightly earthy and Sam is slightly athletic IMO.

---

*(relatively. Obviously not as classic as some other names, but they seem to have more of a range of when they were popular. I wouldn't be surprised to meet a Natalie or Amanda of almost any age.)

This message was edited 4/24/2014, 3:13 PM

No way, when I was a kid I liked Samantha because of the American Girl too! I thought it seemed like a really cool name. I don't like it at all anymore, nor have I for a very long time. I may even dislike it. I would group it with stuff like Tiffany, Stephanie, Whitney. Natalie and Amanda are too classic feeling. I definitely don't like Sam on a girl, either. Or Sammy/Sami.

I put it in the same category as Natalie and Amanda as well. Not ultra dated, and with more classic roots, but the spike in use definitely affects how they come off.

---

I really dislike Sam for a girl, and I don't actually have a fondness for the full name either, but I think it's a very serviceable name and I think it comes across really cute on small girls and then ages just fine.

I really like it, but would never use it due to Sam on a girl, though I love Sam on a boy. Even the possibility, the slightest possibility, the chance that even once, my daughter would be called Sam is enough to put me off ever using Samantha.

I find it pretty boring. And kinda dated to the 70s/80s. It's not bad though, just uninteresting. Personally, I really like Sam and Sami/Sammy as nicknames. They'd probably be pretty hard to avoid. If you didn't want to use them you might have to have another nickname in mind and I don't see any great options. Mantha? Mana? Mani? Sama?

I've got strong associations with the American girl doll, too! Though now as I look at the stats for when the character in the books would've been born, I guess it's not as classic as I assumed either...

---

I think it's gotten a little trendy lately, and I'm not fond of Sam either. There's also no other obvious nicknames. So personally I wouldn't use it as a FN. I think it could work as a MN.

I've seen other people on here refer to Samantha as classic which I find strange. It's a modern, trendy name in my opinion (even if it was technically invented in the 18th century). It didn't really start being used until the '50s or '60s. I don't know if you watch Foyle's War but it always bugs me that Honeysuckle Week's character is called Samantha. I don't know any that were born before the late '50s so it seems wrong to me. I think of it as being very '70s/'80s.

---

It surprises me that it's still so popular in the US as it's pretty dated here. I've known quite a few of them. I have to say (after all that rambling) I don't like it.

I liked it when I was a kid too. It's sort of ... comfortable? And it does seem vaguely feline.
I think it's a good name, but it's not my style.
I'd put it in a category with Vanessa and Belinda. Names that aren't classic at all, but are well established and give a passably formal impression.
I think "Sam" for a girl is OK if it's for Samantha. "Sami" or "Sammy" disagrees with me, though.

This message was edited 4/24/2014, 10:17 AM

I've always liked Samantha, although it does kind of sound like what a teenage girl would name her kitten. Don't like Sam or Sammy either as a nn.

It's a name that I don't think about much but when someone mentions it I'll put my hand up and say "yeah, I like Samantha." I went to school with a Samantha who only ever went by Sami or Sam. And in college I had two female lecturers who were Sam, I know for definitely that for one their full name was Samantha but I'm not sure about the other.
For me, the short, masculine nickname Sam doesn't bother me, sometimes I even quite like it, but I do think that Sami and/or Sam are pretty hard to avoid.

---