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ArchivesRe: Origin of female name AMANDA what country/ years
in reply to a message by Thomas R. Spratt
"Amanda" is the feminine form of the Lating "Amandus", meaning "fit to be loved". Although many reference sources claim that the name "Amanda" is a 17th-century invention, British onomastician P.H. Reaney claims to have found a record of an "Amanda filia Johannis" ("Amanda, daughter of John") for the year 1221 in Warwickshire England.
The name was picked up by playwrights such as Colley Cibber (1617-1757) in his *Love's Last Shift*, and Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) in his *The Relapse*. Also, characters in the 18th century novels *Peregrine Pickle* and *Tristram Shandy* bore the name.
The name occurs in a Nottingham parish register of deaths for the year 1805.
In 1930, the famous British playwright Noel Coward used the name for his character, Amanda Prynne in his *Private Lives*, which brought the name into popular consciousness.
By the 1940s the name had become fashionable in Britain, and by the 1980s "Amanda" was ranked the #3 most popular name for girl babies in the United States.
-- Nanaea
The name was picked up by playwrights such as Colley Cibber (1617-1757) in his *Love's Last Shift*, and Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) in his *The Relapse*. Also, characters in the 18th century novels *Peregrine Pickle* and *Tristram Shandy* bore the name.
The name occurs in a Nottingham parish register of deaths for the year 1805.
In 1930, the famous British playwright Noel Coward used the name for his character, Amanda Prynne in his *Private Lives*, which brought the name into popular consciousness.
By the 1940s the name had become fashionable in Britain, and by the 1980s "Amanda" was ranked the #3 most popular name for girl babies in the United States.
-- Nanaea
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