Samsa

SUMP-sah; SUM-suh
Finnish, variation of Sampson
"sun"

Samsa Origin and Meaning

The name Samsa is a boy's name meaning "sun".

Also spelled Sampsa, in the traditional Finnish epic poem Kalevala, Sampsa is a mythical person who sows all the forests of the land. It is also considered a variation of Biblical Sampson, taken from Saint Sampson the Hospitable, a saint of the Eastern Churches who served the poor of his city.

Gregor Samsa is the name of the unfortunate protagonist of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, while Samsa is a female character in Eva Baltasar's novel, Boulder. It is also the name of a Central Asian food, popular in Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan, consisting of meat and vegetables in a bun.

Another possibility is that this name comes from Sanskrit, as a contracted form of Samsara, referring to the cycle of life, death, and rebirth within Buddhism.