Samantha

Perhaps intended to be a feminine form of SAMUEL, using the name suffix antha (possibly inspired by Greek ανθος (anthos) "flower"). It originated in America in the 18th century but was fairly uncommon until 1964, when it was popularized by the main character on the television show 'Bewitched'.

SAMUEL   male   English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Jewish, Biblical
From the Hebrew name שְׁמוּאֵל (Shemu'el) which could mean either "name of God" or "God has heard". As told in the Books of Samuel in the Old Testament, Samuel was the last of the ruling judges. He led the Israelites during a period of domination by the Philistines, who were ultimately defeated in battle at Mizpah. Later he anointed Saul to be the first king of Israel, and even later anointed his successor David.

As a Christian name, Samuel came into common use after the Protestant Reformation. Famous bearers include American inventor Samuel Morse (1791-1872), Irish writer Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), and American author Samuel Clemens (1835-1910), who wrote under the pen name Mark Twain.
EQUIVALENTS
DUTCH: Samantha
ENGLISH: Samantha
ITALIAN: Samanta, Samantha
SPANISH: Samanta
DIMINUTIVES AND SHORT FORMS
ENGLISH: Sam, Sammi, Sammie, Sammy
OTHER FORMS
BIBLICAL GREEK: Samouel
BIBLICAL HEBREW: Shemu'el
BIBLICAL LATIN: Samuhel
BIBLICAL: Samuel
BULGARIAN: Samuil
CZECH: Samuel
DANISH: Samuel
DUTCH: Samuel
ENGLISH: Sam, Sammie, Sammy, Samuel
FINNISH: Sami, Samppa, Samu, Samuel, Samuli
FRENCH: Samuel
GERMAN: Samuel
HEBREW: Shmuel
HUNGARIAN: Samu, Sámuel
ITALIAN: Samuela, Samuele
JEWISH: Samuel
MACEDONIAN: Samoil
NORWEGIAN: Samuel
OLD CHURCH SLAVIC: Samuilu
POLISH: Samuel
PORTUGUESE: Samuel
RUSSIAN: Samuil
SLOVAK: Samuel
SPANISH: Samuel
SWEDISH: Samuel
WELSH: Sawyl