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I read somewhere that the name 'Samantha' was invented for the 1960's TV show of that name. If so how do we explain Samantha Eggar who was born in 1939? Does anyone know more about the history of the name?
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Obviously what you read was wrong. :) Samantha was not invented in the 1960s. It was created back in the late 1700s in North America. There are plenty of Samanthas born in the late 1700s or early 1800s in genealogies of New England families.
For example:
Samantha Dayton, born 1805 in North Haven, Connecticut:
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr15/rr15_409.html
Samantha Ballard, born 1798:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/9043/surnames4.html
Samantha Coe, baptized Sept. 1790 in Granville, Massachusetts:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mahampde/gran-c.htm
Samantha Fassett, daughter of Amos & Anna, first birth recorded in Cambridge, Vermont, 1794:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/LamoilleCambridge.html
For example:
Samantha Dayton, born 1805 in North Haven, Connecticut:
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr15/rr15_409.html
Samantha Ballard, born 1798:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/9043/surnames4.html
Samantha Coe, baptized Sept. 1790 in Granville, Massachusetts:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mahampde/gran-c.htm
Samantha Fassett, daughter of Amos & Anna, first birth recorded in Cambridge, Vermont, 1794:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/LamoilleCambridge.html
This message was edited 4/10/2007, 2:03 PM
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There's a poem that was written, if I recall, right in the middle of the seventeenth century - by a Cavalier, no doubt - "Amarantha, sweet and fair, Oh braid no more thy shining hair". Something like that! And Anthea was also in use round about then as a literary name or nickname. So it wouldn't be much of a stretch for a family to choose reliable Samuel for a boy, trendy Aramantha for a girl, and then on her arrival to just merge the two ... .
Is Samantha an American invention which spread to England? Interesting if so!
I saw a totally ghastly movie once, a spinoff of GWTW crossed with Showboat, in which the Southern belle leading lady was Amantha. Not Samantha, not Amanda. She used to peer intently into the middle distance as if short-sighted, no doubt reading from the cue board. And that name failed to catch on!
Is Samantha an American invention which spread to England? Interesting if so!
I saw a totally ghastly movie once, a spinoff of GWTW crossed with Showboat, in which the Southern belle leading lady was Amantha. Not Samantha, not Amanda. She used to peer intently into the middle distance as if short-sighted, no doubt reading from the cue board. And that name failed to catch on!
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