Etymology & Historical Origin of the Baby Name Samara

Samara is most likely a corruption of Samaria, a Biblical place name which was once the capital of the Kingdom of Israel in the Old Testament starting in the 9th century B.C. (1 Kings 16:24) “[King Omri] bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.” Although uncertain, the city’s name is believed to be derived from the Hebrew “shamar” meaning “to guard, protect, watch, beware” which seems fitting as the city was built atop a rocky hill and so had the advantage of being situated in a natural outlook position. Samaria was ultimately captured by the Assyrians in the 8th century B.C. leading to the downfall of the Northern Kingdom, the displacement of the Jewish people and the notion of the “ten lost tribes” of Israel. Alternately, Samara may also come from the Arabic Samar which is the feminine form of Samīr meaning “companion in night talk” or “evening conversation” (as in a little “pillow talk”?). Lastly, the Latin “samara” means “seed of the elm” and is the name of a winged fruit that grows on the elm tree (among other trees). As a female personal name Samara is pretty modern (1990s) and is used with mild frequency in North America and Australia.

All About the Baby Name – Samara

Personality

OF THE GIRL NAME SAMARA

The number Eight personality has everything to do with power, wealth and abundance. Somehow, this personality has been blessed on the material plane, but their authoritative and problem-solving traits provide evidence that their good fortunes are not just the luck of the lottery. They are well earned. This is the personality of CEOs and high-ranking military personnel. Eights are intensely active, hard-driving individuals. Success is only meaningful to them after a job well-done.  They are remarkable in their ability to see the larger picture right down to the smallest details, and organize a strategy around success. They then have the ability to direct a group around them toward any goal, and realize individual potential to get the most out of their team.

Popularity

OF THE GIRL NAME SAMARA

Samara made her debut on the American female naming charts in 1997, so this is a name that’s been around for less than 20 years. For the first six years of Samara’s existence on the list of available girl names she lurked down at the bottom of the charts. Then suddenly in 2003 the name shot up a whopping 470 positions in one year alone! What happened? We had to know. This was the year following the October 2002 release of a hugely popular psychological horror film called “The Ring”. The movie featured a sinister ghostly girl named Samara; she was depicted as a girl of eight with long black hair that hung in front of her face. Because of Samara’s disturbing behavior, her adoptive mother suffocated her and then drowned her in a well. Of course Samara came back to life, killing people as she crawled through their television sets in the most spine-chilling of ways. I mean, we’re talking CREEPY stuff here. Samara goes down in the annals of horror films as one of the scariest characters ever – so we were quite amused to find American parents embracing this name rather than being repulsed by it. Honestly, we’re not judging. Eventually people will forget about the movie and Samara will endure as a pretty-sounding name. But she will always be in the “Creepy Kid Character” Hall of Fame – much like Rhoda Penmark (The Bad Seed), Regan MacNeil (The Exorcist), Damien Thorn (The Omen), Danny Torrence (The Shining), Carrie White (Carrie), Gage Creed (Pet Sematary) and Chucky from Child’s Play. When baby Samaras being born today grow up most people will have forgotten about “The Ring”, so it’s all in good fun. There's no denying that Samara remains a gorgeous name regardless of this one pop-culture reference.

Quick Facts

ON SAMARA

GENDER:

Girl

ORIGIN:

Arabic

NUMBER OF SYLLABLES:

3

RANKING POPULARITY:

583

PRONUNCIATION:

sә-MAHR-ah

SIMPLE MEANING:

To guard, protect

Characteristics

OF SAMARA

Authoritative

Powerful

Tough

Tenacious

Wealthy

Problem-solver

Achiever

Cultural References to the Baby Name – Samara

Literary Characters

OF THE BABY NAME SAMARA

We cannot find any significant literary characters by the name of Samara

Childrens Books

ON THE BABY NAME SAMARA

We cannot find any childrens books with the first name Samara


Popular Songs

ON SAMARA

We cannot find any popular or well-known songs with the name of Samara


Famous People

NAMED SAMARA

Samara Weaving (Australian actress)

Children of Famous People

NAMED SAMARA

We cannot find any children of famous people with the first name Samara

Historic Figures

WITH THE NAME SAMARA

We cannot find any historically significant people with the first name Samara