Samara
Top 1000
About Samara
Alluring and lovely — and much more distinctive now than Samantha or Tamara. Samara is a city in western Russia, a winged seed like the whirlygigs that fall from maple trees, as well as a bona fide first name that could make a more unusual update on Samantha or Mara. It can also be a variant spelling of the Arabic name Samira or Sameera.
Pronounced suh-MAR-uh.
As of October 2026, Samara ranked #320 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #256 in 2018.
Editor: Sophie Kihm
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #635 | 452 | 253 |
| 2015 | #633 | 452 | 253.2 |
| 2016 | #475 | 670 | 378.1 |
| 2017 | #324 | 1,009 | 584.4 |
| 2018 | #256 | 1,270 | 746.6 |
| 2019 | #328 | 978 | 582.7 |
| 2020 | #350 | 886 | 548.1 |
| 2021 | #374 | 833 | 507.7 |
| 2022 | #299 | 1,068 | 651.2 |
| 2023 | #259 | 1,194 | 744.1 |
| 2024 | #309 | 997 | 615.4 |
| 2025 | #320 | 957 | 595.4 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Samara.
- Reina
- Reyna
- Anika
- Ciara
- Carina
- Davina
- Amira
- Larissa
- Danica
- Liana
- Melina
- Katerina
- Alessia
- Milena
- Arielle
- Zaidee
- Malia
- Luciana
- Myra
- Mariana
Samara on lists
Famous Samaras
- Samara Lubelski
American musician
- Samara Lee Ash
American child beauty queen on TV's "Toddlers and Tiaras"
- Samara Weaving
Australian actress; niece of actor Hugo Weaving
- Samara Felippo (Santana)
Brazilian actress
- Samara Boulter
American TikToker
Samara in pop culture
- Samara Morgan/Samara Osorio
character in movie "The Ring"
- Samara
an Asari Justicar from the Mass Effect video games
- Samara Cook
character on TV's "Pretty Little Liars"
- Samara
a Frank Lloyd Wright building
- The word "samara" has been used in English as the name of the winged fruit of the elm
ash, or sycamore since the 16th century. Latin samara means "seed of the elm" from semen "seed."
- Samara is also the Latin name of the River Somme
and almost certainly, therefore, the name of a goddess associated with it.
- A Samara is the winged the fruit of the maple tree
often referred to as whirlybirds or helicopters in slang terms.