Sam

Diminutive of Samantha
"told by God"

Sam Origin and Meaning

The name Sam is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "told by God".

Sam as a name standing on its own was given to only 18 girls in 2021, versus over 400 boys. But as a short form it's appealing and down-to-earth for both sexes, and heard far more often: There were over 2500 baby girls named Samantha in the US in one recent year and more than 8500 boys named Samuel, so you will hear the name Sam a lot more often than you might guess judging by the numbers for this short form. Like the wildly popular Charlie, Sam is a nickname that works equally well as a girls' name as a boys'. All forms considered, Sam is still one of the most popular names that start with S.

# 2848 on Nameberry

Sam Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Sam Popularity

Famous People Named Sam

  • Samantha "Sam" Brown
    English pop singer
  • Samantha Elizabeth "Sam" Faiers
    English reality TV personality
  • Samantha Ann "Sam" Quek
    English Olympic hockey player
  • Samantha Karen "Sam" Fox
    English pop singer
  • Samantha Jane "Sam" Stosur
    Australian tennis player
  • Samantha June "Sam" Mewis
    American soccer player
  • Samantha May "Sam" Kerr
    Australian soccer player
  • Samantha "Sam" Mozes (b. 1996)
    daughter of actress Cynthia Nixon and Danny Mozes
  • Sam J Sheen (b. 2004)
    daughter of actors Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards
  • Sam Alexis Woods (b. 2007)
    daughter of golfer Tiger Woods
  • Samantha Rae "Sam" Simpson (b. 2013)
    daughter of pair skater Jamie Salé and ice hockey player Craig Simpson
  • Samantha Faith "Sam" Rogers (b. 2016)
    daughter of singer and TV personality Matt Rogers

Sam in Pop Culture

  • Samantha "Sam" Carter
    character on TV show "Stargate SG,1"
  • Samantha "Sam" Puckett
    character on TV's "iCarly" and "Sam & Cat"
  • Samantha "Sam" Manson
    character in animated series "Danny Phantom"
  • Dr. Sam Nicholls
    character on British TV show "Casualty"
  • Sam
    character in book/film "Perks of Being a Wallflower"
  • Sam
    character in the movie "The Space Between"
  • Samantha "Sam" Stevens
    character on TV's 'Bewitched'
  • Samantha "Sam" Montgomery
    character in movie "A Cinderella Story"
  • Samirah "Sam" Al Abbas
    character in the Magnus Chase series by Rick Riordan
  • Samantha "Sam" White
    character from the Netflix series "Dear White People"