Samara
Feminine · “Several competing readings”
Samara is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 22,764 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Samara is one of those names that several unrelated languages arrived at independently — a Latin botanical word, a Sanskrit noun, an Arabic root, a city on the Volga, a region of the ancient Near East. In English it is also a real dictionary word: the winged seed that spins down from a maple or an ash. Three syllables, all soft, with the stress most often landing in the middle.
How old is the name Samara?
Samara first appears in US birth records in 1949 — 76 years ago. The typical Samara is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 22,500 people named Samara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Samara most popular?
Samara peaked in 2018, reaching #256 nationally. Today it ranks #320, 64 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Samara appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Samara
There is no single road into Samara; there are several that converge. Latin gave English samara as a technical word for a winged seed, and it sits in botany textbooks to this day. Quite separately, Samara names a river and a large city in the Volga region of Russia, and Samar and Samira, from an Arabic root associated with evening conversation, have long been used across the Arabic-speaking world. In American records the name appears mid-twentieth century and stayed thin for decades before climbing in a slow, unbroken line — its rise belongs to living memory rather than to any older English-speaking tradition.
Meaningscholars disagree
Several competing readings, none of them the single source
In Latin, samara is the winged seed of the elm — still the botanical term in English for a maple or ash key. In Sanskrit, samara means battle or conflict. The Arabic root s-m-r, behind names like Samar and Samira, carries the sense of evening talk and companionship. Separately, Samara is a major Russian city on the Volga, and the name resembles Samaria, the biblical region. These are genuinely distinct origins that happen to meet at one spelling.
Pronouncing Samara
suh-MAR-uh
Most common in the US is suh-MAR-uh or suh-MAH-ruh. SAM-uh-ruh, with the stress up front, is also used and is the standard reading of the botanical word. Both are correct; families usually pick one and repeat it.
Nicknames for Samara
High
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
- 1949
- Most girls named
- 20231,196 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #256reached in 2018
- Change vs 2023
- −20.0%957 in 2025, from 1,196
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.
Samara in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Samar in Arabic — related form
- Samira in Arabic — related form
- Самара in Russian — transliteration
- Samarah in English — spelling variant
- Semra in Turkish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Samaras among us
people named Samara are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,679 born in 2025 was named Samara
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Glenna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Samara's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Glenna climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Glenna's path sketches the road Samara is walking now.
Samara sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Samara is headed
Samara should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Samara beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Samara in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ready-made short forms that need no explaining: Sam, Sammy, Mara.
- The spelling is an existing English word, so it can be written down from hearing it more often than most three-syllable names.
- Recognizable in Arabic, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese contexts, which travels well across a mixed family.
- A long, unbroken presence in American records rather than a sudden arrival, with no sharp fashion spike to date it.
- The stress is genuinely unsettled — suh-MAR-uh and SAM-uh-ruh both circulate. Expect to correct people occasionally, and to hear it said your way only after you have said it first.
- Samara Morgan is the child at the center of the 2002 horror film The Ring. The association means less to younger people than to those who saw it at the time, but it does exist.
- It sits close to Samira, Samantha and Sahara in the ear, so mishearings and near-miss spellings are likely on forms and roll calls.
- Sam and Sammy are shared with boys' names, which some families like and others would rather steer around.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Samara to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Samara
Feminine · #320 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Samaras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 22,500 people named Samara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Samara in 2025?
- Samara ranks #320 among US girl names in 2025, with 957 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Samara?
- About 1 in every 1,679 US girls born in 2025 was named Samara — 957 in all.
- Will my child share the name Samara with classmates?
- Samara will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Samara
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Madisson#319 · Sabrina#321 · Marley#322 · Frances#318 · Kali#323 · Gabriela#317 · Colette#316 · Nina#324
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Samara? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Samara and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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