Namesakes
Fictional Characters from Books:
3 characters, 2 heroes
Sam Spade 1930 The Maltese Falcon 
Samwise Gamgee (a.k.a. Sam) 1954 The Lord of the Rings
Sam Meeker 1974 My Brother Sam Is Dead
Samwell Tarly (a.k.a. Sam) 1996 A Game of Thrones
Sam Merlotte 2001 The Southern Vampire Mysteries
Fictional Characters from Movies:
1 character, 1 hero, 1 villain
Sam Spade 1941 The Maltese Falcon
Yosemite Sam 1945 Hare Trigger
Sam Witwicky 2007 Transformers
Fictional Characters from Song Titles:
6 characters
(character) Sam Hall 1925 Ballad of Sam Hall
(character) Sam 1967 Lucifer Sam
(character) Sam 1972 Telegram Sam
(character) Sam 2005 Red Sam
(character) Sam 2006 Sam's Town
(character) Sam 2006 Swim with Sam
Fictional Characters from Television:
22 characters
Sam Franklin 1969 The Brady Bunch
Sam Malone 1982 Cheers
Sam Gorpley 1986 Perfect Strangers
Sam Thomas 1989 Baywatch
Sam Robinson 1994 Heartbreak High
Sam Taggart 1994 ER
Sam Camden 1996 7th Heaven
Sam Ryan 1996 Silent Witness
Sam Carter 1997 Stargate SG-1
Sam Blue 1999 Once and Again
Sam McGuire 2001 Lizzie McGuire
Sam Feeney 2002 Everwood
Sam Spade 2002 Without a Trace
Sam Winchester 2005 Supernatural
Sam Bennett 2007 Private Practice
Samantha Newly (a.k.a. Sam) 2007 Samantha Who?
Sam Merlotte 2008 True Blood
Sam Evans 2009 Glee
Samwell Tarly (a.k.a. Sam) 2011 Game of Thrones
Root (a.k.a. Sam) 2011 Person of Interest
Sam Bocquelet 2011 Stella and Sam
Sam Puckett 2007; 2013 iCarly; Sam & Cat
Grammy Award Winners:
1 best new artist/record of the year/song of the year
(best new artist/record of the year/song of the year) Sam Smith 2015 ; Stay with Me
Hall-of-Famers:
3 baseball, 2 football, 1 basketball
(baseball) Sam Crawford 1957
(baseball) Sam Rice 1963
(baseball) Sam Thompson 1974
(football) Sam Huff 1982
(basketball) Sam Jones 1983
(football) Sam Mills 2022
Hurricanes and Tropical Storms:
1 hurricane
Hurricane Sam 2021
Notable Actors and Entertainers:
18 actors, 1 comedian, 1 reality star
Sam Jaffe 1891-1984
Sam Waterston 1940-
Sam Shepard 1943-2017
Sam Elliott 1944-
Sam Anderson 1947-
Sam Neill 1947-
Sam Kinison 1953-1992
Samuel J. Jones 1954-
Sam Robards 1961-
Sam Rockwell 1968-
Sam Trammell 1969-
Sam Worthington 1976-
Sam Jaeger 1977-
Sam Witwer 1977-
Sam Heughan 1980-
Sam Huntington 1982-
Brody Jenner (a.k.a. Sam) 1983-
Sam Claflin 1986-
Sam Reid 1987-
Sam Underwood 1987-
Notable Athletes:
4 rugby, 1 basketball, 1 football, 1 golf, 1 soccer, 1 tennis
(golf) Sam Snead 1912-2002
(basketball) Sam Jones 1933-2021
(football) Sam Huff 1934-2021
(tennis) Sam Querrey 1987-
(rugby) Sam Whitelock 1988-
(rugby) Sam Burgess 1988-
(rugby) Sam Carter 1989-
(soccer) Sam Vokes 1989-
(rugby) Sam Cane 1992-
Notable Businesspeople:
1 businessperson
Sam Walton 1918-1992
Notable Filmmakers:
3 directors
Sam Raimi 1959-
Sam Mendes 1965-
Sam Taylor-Johnson 1967-
Notable Musicians:
3 musicians, 2 singers
Sam Cooke 1931-1964
Sam Hui 1948-
Sam Rivers 1977-
Sam Hunt 1984-
Sam Smith 1992-
Notable Writers:
1 playwright
Sam Shepard 1943-2017
Olympic Medalists:
3 bronze, 3 silver, 2 gold, 1 silver/gold
(silver) Sam Ferris 1932 marathon
(gold) Sam Balter 1936 basketball
(silver) Sam Hall 1960 diving - springboard
(gold) Sam Perkins 1984 basketball
(silver/gold) Sam Graddy III 1984 100 m; 4x100 m relay
(bronze) Sam Bewley 2008; 2012 cycling - track
(silver) Sam Willoughby 2012 cycling - BMX
(bronze) Sam Oldham 2012 artistic gymnastics
(bronze) Sam Kendricks 2016 pole vault
Oscar Award Winners:
1 actor, 1 director
(director) Sam Mendes 2000 American Beauty
(actor) Sam Rockwell 2018 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Other Fictional Characters:
1 character
Toucan Sam 1963 corporate mascot
Other Leaders:
1 president
President Sam Hinds 1997 Guyana
Pulitzer Award Winners:
1 literature
(literature) Sam Shepard 1979 Buried Child
Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famers:
5 musicians
Sam Cooke 1986
Sam Gooden 1991 The Impressions
Sam Moore 1992 Sam & Dave
Sammy Hagar 2007 Van Halen
Sam Lay 2015 The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Tolkien's Characters:
1 character
Samwise Gamgee (a.k.a. Sam) (m)