Samatha
Feminine
Samatha is Samantha with the n gone. The sound barely changes and the shape on the page barely changes, which is exactly why it has a line of its own in the national record: a spelling this close to a very common name collects entries without ever being anybody's plan.
How old is the name Samatha?
Samatha first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Samatha alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 4,100 people named Samatha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Samatha most popular?
Samatha peaked in 1989, reaching #780 nationally. See the whole 1989 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Samantha to Samatha
The story of Samatha
Samantha turns up in American records in the eighteenth century, mostly in the South, long before anyone can show where it came from. It faded, returned in the middle of the twentieth century and became one of the most given names in the country. Samatha travels in its wake: the same syllables with one letter missing, entering the charts in the same decades and rising and falling on the same curve. There is no separate tradition to trace. No other language uses this spelling, no older document carries it, and no family story sits behind it that is not really Samantha's story.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Samatha has no meaning of its own. Samantha, the name behind it, is itself unsettled: it appears in American records in the eighteenth century with no clear parent, and the readings usually offered, a feminine built on Samuel or a borrowing of the word behind Samaritan, are proposals rather than evidence.
How the name formed
- Samantha
- Samatha
Pronouncing Samatha
suh-MATH-uh
Read strictly, the spelling gives three syllables with a th in the middle. In practice a great many people say it exactly as Samantha, and both are heard from people who carry the name.
Nicknames for Samatha
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
- 1964
- Most girls named
- 1988222 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #780reached in 1989
- Change vs 2017
- −16.7%5 in 2018, from 6
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.
Samathas among us
people named Samatha 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
Samatha sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Spoken aloud it is a name everyone already knows, so it never has to be explained.
- Sam and Sammy work as short forms without any adjustment at all.
- It is a letter shorter to write than Samantha while keeping the same outline.
- Autocorrect, teachers and forms will put the n back, and correcting them is a small lifelong task.
- It has no separate history, meaning or tradition, so there is nothing to tell a child about the name beyond Samantha's.
- Anyone seeing it written has to decide whether it is a variant or a mistake, and many will assume the second.
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Samatha
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Samathas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,100 people named Samatha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Samatha in 2025?
- Samatha is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Samatha with classmates?
- Samatha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Samatha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Samatha and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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