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Not in Spain
In Spain Samantha or Samanta (the adapted to Spanish/Catalan/Basque/Galician/Occitan spelling) is not used.
There may be any Samantha/Samanta, but just as there may be any Montserrat... in USA.(In Catalonia, there are 311 girls named Samanta [#627 in total of names] and 249 named Samantha [#745].)Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
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Lumia, I am confused by your answer. First you say that Samantha "is not used" in Spain, and then you say that there are 311 Samanthas and 249 Samantas in Catalonia. Isn't that a contradiction? Or are you claiming that though Samantha is sometimes used in Catalonia it's not used in the rest of Spain? I would personally find it very odd if this name was ONLY found in Catalonia within Spain.The name has certainly been used in Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. For example, there is any internationally famous squash player named Samantha Teran from Mexico, born in Mexico City:http://www.squashsite.co.uk/vintage/teran.htm
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I said "it's not used in Spain", not "it's not used at all in Spain". This means that the name can appear sometimes in registers just as other foreigner names, not that it is never used. Is possible to find a Samantha/Samanta in Spain? Yes. But this name nowadays is just a foreigner name as: Derie, Sharon, Hazel, Dunstan, Steven, Safae, Li, Eoin, Siobhan (all names of people who I know and who is born in Spain). "It's used in Spain" implies, for a foreigner name, more use that just a sporadic use, as with Vanessa/Vanesa, Jonathan, Jessica/Jesica, Jennifer/Jenifer, etc.And uses and names in American Spanish-speaking countries are very very different from uses and names in Spain. My post said "in Spain", not "in Spanish".Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com

This message was edited 9/2/2006, 1:52 PM

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Thank you for clearing that up, though to me the phrase "it's not used in Spain" and "it's not used at all in Spain" seem to mean the same thing. :)What is your dividing line between "sporadic" use and regular use? Were the figures you quoted for all women alive in Catalonia, or for girls born in just a specific year?
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I don't know about Spain, but the name Samantha (or Samanta) is certainly used in Latin America, just like many other non-Spanish names. An example would be Uruguayan musician Samanta Navarro. However I don't think is the most popular of foreign names, its rate of ocurrence is far surpassed by that of other names of English and French origin.
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