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Help[Facts] Samantha
This seems like a 20th century name to me: does anyone know if it was used any earlier?
Also, if you click on Samantha you get: Perhaps intended to be a feminine form of SAMUEL, using the popular name suffix -antha.
Are there any other names, that I must have missed, using the popular suffix -antha? Anthea, yes (though not a suffix) - but apart from a very ghastly movie I saw long ago that was a GWTW spinoff and had a heroine called Amantha, I've never encountered it.
And, are there any other fem forms of Samuel? Would it be possible to feminise it in Hebrew?
Thanks!
Also, if you click on Samantha you get: Perhaps intended to be a feminine form of SAMUEL, using the popular name suffix -antha.
Are there any other names, that I must have missed, using the popular suffix -antha? Anthea, yes (though not a suffix) - but apart from a very ghastly movie I saw long ago that was a GWTW spinoff and had a heroine called Amantha, I've never encountered it.
And, are there any other fem forms of Samuel? Would it be possible to feminise it in Hebrew?
Thanks!
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Replies
More "anthe" names
Here are several "anthe" names from a millennium or two ago:
Anthe = Flower
Charisanthe = Graceful flower
Euanthe = Beautiful flower
Hedanthe = Hedonistic flower
Herosanthe = Hera’s flower
Ianthe = Healthy flower
Kallistanthe = The best blower
Kyminanthe = Cumin flower
Oinanthe = Wine – flower
Xanthe = Blond flower
Here are several "anthe" names from a millennium or two ago:
Anthe = Flower
Charisanthe = Graceful flower
Euanthe = Beautiful flower
Hedanthe = Hedonistic flower
Herosanthe = Hera’s flower
Ianthe = Healthy flower
Kallistanthe = The best blower
Kyminanthe = Cumin flower
Oinanthe = Wine – flower
Xanthe = Blond flower
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Dear Pavlos, not even you could knowingly produce that definition of Kallistanthe - but congratulations on a wondrous typo!
Thanks also for Ianthe, which now you come to mention it I do know from that poem about the girl who was like ripples in a sunny river and daisies in the grass. What a tribute! The others are ... interesting (whatever is a wine flower? A dark red one? Or blue, to match the wine-dark sea?) ... but (as the kids say) SO last millennium. Or, I'd guess, the one before last ... Were they in use for general naming purposes, or are they mostly known from myths etc - can't recall having seen 'em, but I'm a Latinist - or I was - so I get my Greek filtered.
All the best
Thanks also for Ianthe, which now you come to mention it I do know from that poem about the girl who was like ripples in a sunny river and daisies in the grass. What a tribute! The others are ... interesting (whatever is a wine flower? A dark red one? Or blue, to match the wine-dark sea?) ... but (as the kids say) SO last millennium. Or, I'd guess, the one before last ... Were they in use for general naming purposes, or are they mostly known from myths etc - can't recall having seen 'em, but I'm a Latinist - or I was - so I get my Greek filtered.
All the best
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> Dear Pavlos, not even you could knowingly produce that definition of Kallistanthe - but congratulations on a wondrous typo!
Oh my gods, what have my fingers randomly generated! My apology to any Kallistanthes out there, no innuendo intended :)
Oinanthe is indeed most likely related to colour, 'though I could also metaphorically imply something along the like of "intoxicating beauty". The only place I encountered this obscure name is *Lexicon of Greek Personal Names* (Oxford U.).
Cheers backacha, dear :)
Oh my gods, what have my fingers randomly generated! My apology to any Kallistanthes out there, no innuendo intended :)
Oinanthe is indeed most likely related to colour, 'though I could also metaphorically imply something along the like of "intoxicating beauty". The only place I encountered this obscure name is *Lexicon of Greek Personal Names* (Oxford U.).
Cheers backacha, dear :)
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Samantha was created in colonial North America back in the late 1700s. You can find examples of women named Samantha in genealogies of New England and New York families from the early 1800s and late 1700s:
Samantha Hawley, born 1814:
http://webpages.marshall.edu/~smith82/monet.html
Samantha McWhorter, born 1809 in upstate New York:
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~mcwgen/mathewny.htm
and the oldest I've found so far, Samantha Bibbins, born 1788 in Stillwater, New York:
http://www.renderplus.com/hartgen/htm/bibbins.htm
Samantha Hawley, born 1814:
http://webpages.marshall.edu/~smith82/monet.html
Samantha McWhorter, born 1809 in upstate New York:
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~mcwgen/mathewny.htm
and the oldest I've found so far, Samantha Bibbins, born 1788 in Stillwater, New York:
http://www.renderplus.com/hartgen/htm/bibbins.htm
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It's rather funny because, if I recall my facts correctly, everyone here is helping divine the source quite a good deal.
I distinctly remember reading that Samantha is an American creation, as Cleveland states. Formed to create a pleasing sounding name, it sources both Samuel and the -anthe names Pavlos mentioned. Further, I remember it was most common among African-American slaves and grew in popularity whence. (I had always thought it an American slave invention, but Cleveland's research clearly disputes that.)
I distinctly remember reading that Samantha is an American creation, as Cleveland states. Formed to create a pleasing sounding name, it sources both Samuel and the -anthe names Pavlos mentioned. Further, I remember it was most common among African-American slaves and grew in popularity whence. (I had always thought it an American slave invention, but Cleveland's research clearly disputes that.)
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That is most interesting - thank you! So the name has been bubbling gently for centuries and then suddenly became super-popular quite recently ... I wonder how many others might do the same, and what they are.
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