ninan.org

Samantha

Girls' name · Millennial-era

Living in the US
~582,300 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#151 among girls
Births in 2025
1,973 594,052 since 1880
Typical age
30 years, median

Samantha popularity over time

Samantha rank by birth year, 1880–2025Samantha ranked #352 in 1880 and #151 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #3, in 1998.#10#100#1,000#151best #3 in 199818901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

The high point was 1990: 25,926 births recorded as Samantha. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. It has held a top-100 place in 45 separate years.

As of 2025 the name sits at #151, with 1,973 births that year. Compared with 2015, births are down 63%. Year on year the rank dropped by 25.

Babies named Samantha per yearPeaks at 25,926 births in 1990.25,926 in 1990018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Samantha?

An estimated 582,300 living Americans are called Samantha. That is out of 594,052 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Samantha?

Median age among living Samanthas: 30. More of them were born in the 1990s than in any other decade. By the site’s era rules that makes Samantha a millennial-era name.

Your Samantha

Ages of living people named SamanthaHalf of living Samanthas are older than 30 and half younger.median 30020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Samantha is most common

The name is concentrated in California, at 1.8× the national rate. New Jersey, Nevada and Connecticut follow.

Where Samantha is used more than average5 states use the name Samantha more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: 1.6× the national rateNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: 1.7× the national rateNJConnecticut: 1.6× the national rateCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: 1.8× the national rateCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 1.5× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Samantha is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
California 6,242 1.8×
New Jersey 1,194 1.7×
Nevada 326 1.6×
Connecticut 370 1.6×
District of Columbia 87 1.5×

Samantha in England and Wales

ONS recorded 47 births named Samantha in 2025, ranking it #778. That is 27% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Samantha comes from

It was recorded in the 17th century in England.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Samantha

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Samantha Stosur Australian tennis player 1984 58
Samantha Smith American peace activist and child actress 1972–1985 57
Samantha Cristoforetti Italian European Space Agency astronaut, former Italian Air Force pilot and engineer 1977 51
Samantha Fox British singer 1966 49
Samantha Morton British actress 1977 48
Samantha Power Irish-American academic, author and diplomat 1970 46
Samantha Ruth Prabhu Indian actress 1987 46
Samantha Eggar British actress 1939–2025 45
Photo credits (8)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 415 in 1964 to 1,969 in 1965 — 4.7 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/samantha.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).