Pamela
Coined by the poet Philip Sidney in the 1580s, apparently from Greek for “all sweetness.”
Popularity, 1880–2025
Coined by the poet Sir Philip Sidney and spread by Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela; it peaked in the early 1950s.
Pamela first shows up in the national records in 1895. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American girls in 39 different years between 1943 and 1983. Its biggest year was 1954, when 27,361 newborn girls received the name, ranking it No. 12 nationally. Its best ranking came in 1953, at No. 10. All told, 596,462 Americans have been given the name since 1880.
Related names
Other spellings on record: Pamala (7,357), Pamella (3,166), Pamla (795), Pamila (755), Pamula (696) (total births since 1880)
Other names that share a story: Sidney
Explore Pamela interactively →By the decade
| Decade | Births | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | 11 | No. 1502 |
| 1900s | 11 | No. 1727 |
| 1910s | 150 | No. 1297 |
| 1920s | 627 | No. 666 |
| 1930s | 1,873 | No. 347 |
| 1940s | 73,121 | No. 21 |
| 1950s | 237,398 | No. 10 |
| 1960s | 181,939 | No. 11 |
| 1970s | 58,039 | No. 26 |
| 1980s | 25,740 | No. 76 |
| 1990s | 8,393 | No. 238 |
| 2000s | 5,255 | No. 446 |
| 2010s | 1,917 | No. 961 |
| 2020s | 602 | No. 1668 |
Births and rank shown for girls, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.
🍼 Enjoying this? Buy my baby a diaper
Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.