Samantha

I am skeptical about the Wikipedia claim that there was a Samantha in Newton Regis, England in 1633. The link to the reference does not work as of today, and it was to a genealogy site. There are myriad examples of people doing genealogical research misreading handwritten records from centuries past and assuming a name is the same as a modern one when it was really something else.

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I now believe that Samantha is an alteration of the name Semanthe, under the influence of Samuel and names ending in -antha. Semanthe was most likely created by English playwright Sir John Suckling for a character in his 1637 play "Aglaura". The play is set in ancient Persia but is described by critics as being "wildly ahistorical". Semanthe was reused by other British authors several times in the 17th and 18th centuries, and first references to Semanthe as a name in the USA are older than those for Samantha, which itself often appears as "Samanthy" in early records.

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I hope to write this up more fully in the future.

Samuela is the feminine version of Samuel which means "God's listener" or whatever. Samantha comes from "Sama" Arabic for "Eternal" and the Greek word "Anthos" which means "Flower". Please stop spreading misinformation about it being the female version of Samuel when Samantha isn't even in the bible.

It is derived from Aramaic 'Samantha', meaning "to listen".

Gender: Feminine & Masculine

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Usages: English (?)

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Pronunciation: sah-MAN-thə, sə-MANTHə

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Meaning: several accounts remark the name 'Samantha' with the following meanings: flower and listener/listened of god, from the etymological meaning and some suggestions for the female version of Samuel, which is indeed 'god has heard' or 'name of god'. But I have found other possible meanings which mightn't come from the same but can help, these meanings come from Samra (both Persian, Sanskrit, etc. Which means accompanied by immortals or by god), Samantabhadra (Sanskrit, which means universal worthy), Saman (Persian, calm or solace), Samantha (Sri Lankan for the rising morning sun).

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(Information from name #334825 originally submitted by an anonymous user)

It means Told by God and it means that you should listen to the Lord when he has something to say.

In my research for my name I have found that Samantha means both heard by God and held by God which I find cool. This also means that the name Samantha is Flower and Listener. I recommend looking at Wikipedia for more information about the name's meanings and origin.

Samantan was a generic term applied to dignify a collection of sub-clans among the ruling elite and feudal state owners of Kerala belonging to the Nair community in India. It's derived from Sama + anta, meaning equal distance or difference, rather raised from the common masses.

My name is also Samantha. I have gotten interested in names lately and I found out my name means god heard and flower. Now being a high schooler I went deeper into this and tried to find out more and what I have found out is that it originated from England. Now that I go to a Catholic school I learn about religion. I have asked my religion teacher about this subject and he told me some history on this and what he thought it meant is that, if god heard that means that he heard someone’s prayers in your family and that you’re a blessing that has came to answer your prayers. (If that made sense).

The definition said that "anthos" is added to Samuel. "anthos" comes from the Greek name Anthea which came from the Greek name Antheia. Anthos means "flower, blossom" and was an epithet of the Greek goddess Hera.

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On another note Samantha could be from the Hebrew language. The name could be derived from the name Shemu'el, which Samuel is from (but just note that the feminine form of Samuel is Samuela). So, Samantha could mean "Listener to God" or just "listener".

The Nordic Names website has a name, Samanta, for which it gives Simon as one possible origin - which seems to me to make sense because I'm always suspicious of explanations that combine an element from one language (eg Samuel, which would be Hebrew or Aramaic) with an element from another (antha = Greek). Given the variations in the spellings of names, it wouldn't take much to make Simonetta, say, into Samanta or Samantha.

I wanted to share what Wikipedia says about the name Samantha, since "behind the name" had almost nothing at all, and Wikipedia is only like 3 minutes of reading away, so here you go. I hope you enjoy the 15 times more in-depth information and history of the name's popularity in the U.S., As well as it's earlier recording in ENGLAND, not in the U.S. as behind the name says: :)
Shalom, Joel Thompson

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Origin
Meaning God heard; listener; flower[1]
Region of origin England / US
Other names
Nickname(s) Sam, Sammy, Sammi
Related names Sam, Sammy, Sami, Sammi, Sammie
Samantha is a feminine given name. It has been recorded in England in 1633 in Newton-Regis, Warwickshire, England.[2] It was also recorded in the 18th century in New England, but its etymology is unknown.[3] Speculation (without evidence) has suggested an origin from the masculine given name Samuel[4] and anthos, the Greek word for "flower".[5] A variant of this speculation is that it may have been a feminine form of Samuel with the addition of the already existing feminine name Anthea.[4]

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It remained a rare name until the publication, beginning in 1873, of a series of ten books by Marietta Holley featuring the adventures of a lady called Samantha, wife of Josiah Allen.[3] This led to the rise in its popularity and its increasing ranking among the top 1,000 names for girls in the United States from 1880, the earliest year for which records are available, to 1902.[6]

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It was out of fashion in the United States for the majority of the first half of the 20th century, but reappeared among the top 1, 000 names for girls in 1958, when it ranked in 998th position, and in 1959, when it ranked in 993rd place. It fell off the top 1,000 list once again until 1964, when it reappeared in 472nd place, and leapt another 293 places to 179th place in the ratings in 1965. The name's popularity coincided with the debut in 1964 of the television show Bewitched, which featured as the lead character a young witch named Samantha Stephens. The name has remained consistently popular in the United States since the 1960s. It ranked among the top 200 names for girls since 1965 and among the top 100 names for girls since 1976. It was among the 10 most popular names for girls born in the United States between 1988 and 2006. It ranked as the 15th most popular name for American girls born in 2009.[7]

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In Sri Lanka Samantha is used as a masculine given name, being one of the forms of the name of the god Saman. This usage has no known connection with the female version.

Possible etymology:

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Samos |Σάμου|, Greek island in the Aegean
< |samos|, "a height, dune, seaside hill" [Old Greek]*
+ |anthos|, "flower"

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Flower of Samos, flower of the heights

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* http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Samos.

Contrary to popular belief, this name did not originate in America. A simple search on familysearch.org gives examples of baptisms for 7 Samantha's in England in the seventeenth century, the earliest being in 1633.

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https://familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=75&query=%2Bgivenname%3Asamantha&birth_year0=1600.

The given etymology "hearing-flower" is suggestive of a hearing trumpet which (in turn) is suggestive of keen/amplified/attentive hearing.

Samantha means "listener" or "listener to god".

I think it should be added that the "antha" suffix likely comes from the Greek "anthos" meaning "flower". Also, the description of "antha" as a "popular" suffix puzzles me, since it is not a common element in English names. The only other names I know of that end in "antha" are Melantha, Acantha, Amarantha and Diantha, none of which have ever been popular, or well known, in English. [noted -ed]

Perhaps meant to represent the obsolete Irish name Samthann, Latinized (usually as Samthana) and metathesized. Samthann of Clonbroney was an 8th century saint whose feast is held on the 19th of December.

The name Samantha comes from the Hebrew word for "Listener" or "Listener of God." Hebrew immigrants to America in the 19th century brought the name over with them when they came the New World.

I've been studying names for about 32 years and especially my own. In my studies the name Samantha is most likely an Aramaic name meaning "listener, to listen". Samuela is the feminine form of Samuel, not Samantha. I do not believe that Samantha originated in America in the 18th century or that it is a coinage of any kind. It's likely Aramaic and older than the 18th century.

Samantha is actually a name of Aramaic orgin meaning "Listener".

My name is Samantha and most sources say it's an Aramaic name meaning "The Listener". Could be wrong, but its written in more than one place.

I disagree about it's being a feminine form of Samuel. Most feminine forms of masculine names are easily recognizable as such. Samuela would be the feminine of Samuel. I believe Samantha is a completely separate name. It's beautiful but too popular.

Samantha may sound like some anthem to many, but it means 'heard of God.'

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It is the feminine of Samuel. Sama means 'listen' or 'hear' in Arabic; in Hebrew we have 'shama' for it. There are many words related to it in ther languages such as 'samaat' meaning 'the power to hear' in Urdu (a language used in subcontinent). El refers to God. So Samuel means 'heard of God.' In Hebrew, the proper form should be Shamuel. Similarly, in Arabic we have Ismael and in Hebrew Ishmael ("heard of God"); here again same roots.

Samantha means 'told by God' or 'name of God'in Hebrew.