Pam
Feminine · “all honey”
Pam is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 33,125 girls against 23 boys since 1880.
Pam comes from a name that was invented on purpose. Pamela does not exist before the 1580s: an English poet made it up for a romance, and it took nearly two centuries and a bestselling novel before anyone used it on a real child.
How old is the name Pam?
Pam first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Pam alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 28,500 people named Pam are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pam most popular?
Pam peaked in 1959, reaching #125 nationally. See the whole 1959 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From pan + meli to Pam
The story of Pam
Sidney's Arcadia gave Pamela to a princess, and the name stayed on the page for a century and a half. Then Richardson's Pamela in 1740 — one of the first English novels, and enormously popular — put it in front of a mass readership, and real children began to carry it. It reached America properly in the twentieth century, rose sharply through the 1940s, and Pam was registered as a name in its own right at the same time, peaking in the mid-1950s.
Meaningscholars disagree
all honey
Pamela was coined by Sir Philip Sidney for his prose romance Arcadia, and the usual reading takes it from the Greek pan, 'all', and meli, 'honey'. Sidney left no explanation, so this is a reconstruction from the elements rather than a statement of intent — a well-argued guess about a deliberate invention.
How the name formed
- pan + meli
- Pamela
- Pam
Related forms: Pamela · Pamela · Pâmela
Pronouncing Pam
PAM
One syllable. Pamela is stressed on the first of its three; the clipping keeps that syllable and drops the rest.
Nicknames for Pam
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 19593,677 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #125reached in 1959
- Change vs 1992
- 0.0%5 in 1996, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Pam in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pamela in Italian — related form
- Pamela in Spanish — related form
- Pâmela in Portuguese — related form
Pams among us
people named Pam are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Pam has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Pamela stands behind it with a documented literary origin, which very few names can date so precisely.
- One syllable, warm and unmistakable in any accent.
- The invention story is a genuinely good thing to know about a name.
- The 'all honey' reading is a reconstruction of a coinage, not a recovered etymology.
- Given outright it stays informal; Pamela on the certificate keeps both registers.
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What they receive
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Pam
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Pams are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 28,500 people named Pam are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pam in 2025?
- Pam is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Pam with classmates?
- Pam will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Patricia#1334 · Pamela#2239 · Phyllis#11932 · Peggy#8362 · Paula#853 · Pauline#2957 · Pearl#776 · Paige#346
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pam? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pam and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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