Samaria
Feminine · “watch-mountain”
Samaria is a watch-mountain in Hebrew — the hill Omri bought and built his capital on, and the region that gave the Samaritans their name.
How old is the name Samaria?
Samaria first appears in US birth records in 1952 — 73 years ago. The typical Samaria alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 4,500 people named Samaria are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Samaria most popular?
Samaria peaked in 2007, reaching #1084 nationally. Today it ranks #1880, 796 places below that high. See the whole 2007 chart.
Samaria appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From shamar to Samaria
The story of Samaria
Omri bought the hill of Shomron around 880 BC and made it the capital of the northern kingdom; Assyria took it in 722 and deported its people. The Samaritans descend from those who remained, and the Good Samaritan parable turns on how despised they were. Samaria appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
watch-mountain
From the Hebrew Shomron, built on shamar, 'to watch' or 'to guard'. 1 Kings says Omri bought the hill from a man named Shemer and named the city for him, which the text presents as the reason — though the guard-root reading fits the site. Both are in the passage.
How the name formed
- shamar
- Shomron
- Samaria
Related forms: שומרון · Samaria · Σαμάρεια
Pronouncing Samaria
suh-MAIR-ee-uh
Four syllables, stress on the second. Hebrew Shomron is sho-mrON with two.
Nicknames for Samaria
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
- 1952
- Most girls named
- 2006209 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1084reached in 2007
- Change vs 2024
- −11.9%104 in 2025, from 118
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.
Samaria in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- שומרון in Hebrew — related form
- Samaria in Spanish — same name
- Σαμάρεια in Greek — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, Georgia.
Samarias among us
people named Samaria are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 15,454 born in 2025 was named Samaria
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 Maryanna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Samaria's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maryanna climbed just as high around 1908, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maryanna's path sketches the road Samaria is walking now.
Samaria is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Samaria is headed
Samaria looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 26% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Samaria beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Samaria in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The watch-mountain meaning is concrete and fits the hilltop site exactly.
- The Good Samaritan parable is one of the best-known passages in the Gospels.
- Sam and Maria are two short forms, both with enormous records.
- The region remains politically contested today.
- Four syllables make it long for everyday use.
- Samara and Samaria are close enough to cause confusion.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Samaria
Feminine · #1880 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Samarias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,500 people named Samaria are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Samaria in 2025?
- Samaria ranks #1880 among US girl names in 2025, with 104 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Samaria?
- About 1 in every 15,454 US girls born in 2025 was named Samaria — 104 in all.
- Will my child share the name Samaria with classmates?
- Samaria will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Samaria
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Azuri#1880 · Dhriti#1880 · Divine#1880 · Akari#1880 · Kiari#1880 · Analiyah#1880 · Aashvi#1880 · Margarita#1880
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Samaria? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Samaria and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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