Amanda
Encyclopedia
Amanda is a Latin
female gerundive
name meaning "having to be loved," "deserving to be loved," or, simply, "worthy of love."
The name "Amanda" first appeared in 1212 on a birth record from Warwickshire
, England
, and five centuries later the name was popularized by poets and playwrights.
In the United States, "Amanda" slowly became more prominent from the 1930s to the 1960s, ranking among the top 200 baby names. It jumped into the top 10 in the mid-1970s, likely because of Barry Manilow
's 1974 No. 1 hit song "Mandy
," a nickname for Amanda.
From 1976 to 1995, "Amanda" ranked in the ten most popular female baby names in the United States. The name was most popular from 1978 to 1992, when it ranked in the top 4. At its prime, in 1980, it was the second most popular. In 2009, "Amanda" ranked number 166. It was still ranked among the top ten names given to girls born in Puerto Rico
in 2009. The name is also currently popular in Sweden
, where it ranked twentieth for girls born in 2009, down five places from 2008, when it was ranked fifteenth. It is also popular in Swedish-speaking
families in Finland
, where it ranked among the top ten names for girls born to ethnic Swedes.
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
female gerundive
Gerundive
In linguistics, a gerundive is a particular verb form. The term is applied very differently to different languages; depending on the language, gerundives may be verbal adjectives, verbal adverbs, or finite verbs...
name meaning "having to be loved," "deserving to be loved," or, simply, "worthy of love."
The name "Amanda" first appeared in 1212 on a birth record from Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and five centuries later the name was popularized by poets and playwrights.
In the United States, "Amanda" slowly became more prominent from the 1930s to the 1960s, ranking among the top 200 baby names. It jumped into the top 10 in the mid-1970s, likely because of Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
's 1974 No. 1 hit song "Mandy
Mandy (song)
"Mandy", originally titled "Brandy", is a song jointly written and composed by Scott English and Richard Kerr."Brandy" had been a hit in 1971 for Scott English in the UK and in 1972 for Bunny Walters in New Zealand...
," a nickname for Amanda.
From 1976 to 1995, "Amanda" ranked in the ten most popular female baby names in the United States. The name was most popular from 1978 to 1992, when it ranked in the top 4. At its prime, in 1980, it was the second most popular. In 2009, "Amanda" ranked number 166. It was still ranked among the top ten names given to girls born in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
in 2009. The name is also currently popular in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, where it ranked twentieth for girls born in 2009, down five places from 2008, when it was ranked fifteenth. It is also popular in Swedish-speaking
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
families in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, where it ranked among the top ten names for girls born to ethnic Swedes.
Athletes
- Amanda BeardAmanda BeardAmanda Ray Beard is an American swimmer and a seven-time Olympic medalist . She is a former world record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke ....
(born 1981), American swimmer - Amanda BordenAmanda BordenAmanda Kathleen Borden is a retired American gymnast, who was one of the members of the gold medalist United States team in the 1996 Summer Olympics, the Magnificent 7. Borden was the team captain of the Magnificent Seven, with all six other members submitting her name in the vote, including the...
(born 1977), retired American gymnast - Amanda CoetzerAmanda CoetzerAmanda Coetzer is a former professional tennis player from South Africa.Coetzer turned professional in 1988 and retired in 2004...
(born 1971), South African former tennis player - Amanda EvoraAmanda EvoraAmanda Evora is an American pair skater. She competes with Mark Ladwig. They are two-time U.S. silver medalists and two-time U.S. pewter medalists.-Personal life:...
(born 1984), American pair skater - Amanda GonzálezAmanda GonzálezAmanda González Gutiérrez is a former female field hockey player from Spain. She was a member of the Women's National Team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. There the team ended up in fourth place under the guidance of Dutch coach Marc Lammers. She played club hockey for Sardinero Caja...
(born 1979), Spanish former field hockey player - Amanda HopmansAmanda HopmansAmanda Hopmans is a former professional tennis player from the Netherlands. She turned professional in February 1994 and on 1 November 1999 she achieved her career high ranking of No. 72 in the world....
(born 1976), Dutch former tennis player - Amanda WeirAmanda WeirAmanda Weir is an American swimmer.At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Weir swam the third leg in the US team for the Women's 4×100 m freestyle relay. Leading after her leg of the relay, the US team finished second to the Australians, setting an American Record with their finishing time...
(born 1986), American swimmer
Actresses, singers and models
- Amanda BarrieAmanda BarrieAmanda Barrie is an English actress.-Career:Born as Shirley Anne Broadbent, Barrie attended St Anne's College, St Anne's on Sea. She then trained at the Arts Educational School in London and later at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School...
(born 1935), British actress - Amanda BearseAmanda BearseAmanda Bearse is an American actress, director and comedienne best known for her role as wacky neighbor Marcy D'Arcy on Married.....
(born 1958), American actress, director and comedienne best known for playing Marcy on Married...with Children - Amanda BlakeAmanda BlakeAmanda Blake was an American actress known for the role of the red-haired saloon proprietress "Miss Kitty Russell" on the television western Gunsmoke.-Early life and career:...
(1929–1989), American actress who played Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke - Amanda BynesAmanda BynesAmanda Laura Bynes is an American actress, comedian, singer, and fashion designer. Bynes appeared in several successful television series, such as All That and The Amanda Show, on Nickelodeon in the mid to late 1990s and early 2000s, and in 2002, she starred in the TV series, What I Like About You...
(born 1986), American actress - Amanda CrewAmanda CrewAmanda Crew is a Canadian television and film actress. She is best known for her work on the television series 15/Love and Whistler, and in the feature-length films Final Destination 3, Sex Drive, The Haunting in Connecticut, and Charlie St. Cloud.-Early life:Crew was born in Langley, British...
(born 1986), Canadian actress - Amanda DonohoeAmanda DonohoeAmanda Donohoe is an English film and television actress. She is known for her 1980s relationship with popstar Adam Ant and her later work on television — including L.A. Law and Emmerdale — and her roles in successful movies including Liar, Liar.-Early life:Donohoe was born in London, the daughter...
(born 1962), British actress - Amanda HoldenAmanda HoldenAmanda Louise Holden is an English actress and presenter. Among her roles are Mia Bevan in Cutting It, Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart, and the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award...
(born 1971), British actress - Amanda LearAmanda LearAmanda Lear is a French singer, lyricist, composer, painter, TV presenter, actress and novelist....
(born 1939), French singer, lyricist, composer, painter, TV presenter, actress and novelist - Amanda Lee (actress) (李蕙敏， born 1970), a pop singer and actress in Hong Kong
- Amanda OvermyerAmanda OvermyerAmanda Lindsay Overmyer is an American rock singer-songwriter from Camden, Indiana who was the eleventh place finalist on the seventh season of American Idol. Following her run on Idol, Overmyer released her debut album Solidify on December 10, 2008 and is currently working on her second album...
(born 1984), former American Idol contestant and singer - Amanda PalmerAmanda PalmerAmanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer , sometimes known as Amanda Fucking Palmer, is an American performer who first rose to prominence as the lead singer, pianist, and lyricist/composer of the duo The Dresden Dolls...
(born 1976), lead singer of the Dresden Dolls - Amanda PeetAmanda PeetAmanda Peet is an American actress, who has appeared on film, stage, and television. After studying with Uta Hagen at Columbia University, Peet began her career in television commercials, and progressed to small roles on television, before making her film debut in 1995...
(born 1972), American actress - Amanda PilkeAmanda PilkeAmanda Pilke is a Finnish film actress.Her first role was in the 2003 film Helmiä ja sikoja alongside Mikko Leppilampi and Laura Birn. She is also starring a feature film called Kielletty Hedelmä directed by Dome Karukoski...
(born 1990), Finnish actress - Amanda Plummer (born 1957), American actress
- Amanda SeyfriedAmanda SeyfriedAmanda Michelle Seyfried is an American actress, singer-songwriter and former child model. She began her career as a child model when she was 11, and at 15 began her career as an actress, starting off with uncredited roles and moving on to recurring roles on As the World Turns and All My...
(born 1985), American actress - Amanda SwaffordAmanda SwaffordAmanda Lynn Swafford is an American fashion model and television personality. She came in third place on Cycle 3 of the reality television show America's Next Top Model. Swafford is legally blind; she is afflicted with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition...
(born 1978), former contestant of America's Next Top Model, Cycle 3 and model - Amanda TappingAmanda TappingAmanda Tapping is an English-born Canadian actress, producer and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis...
(born 1965), English-born Canadian actress
Other
- Amanda ForsythAmanda ForsythAmanda Forsyth is a Juno Award-winning Canadian cellist, and is the principal cello of the National Arts Centre Orchestra.-Biography:...
(born 1966), Canadian cellist - Amanda HearstAmanda HearstAmanda Randolph Hearst is an American socialite, fashion model, and heiress to the Hearst Corporation, the company containing William Randolph Hearst's media empire, which reports US$5 billion a year in annual revenue...
(born 1984), American socialite, fashion model, and heiress to William Randolph Hearst's media empire - Amanda HesserAmanda HesserAmanda Hesser is an American food writer, editor and cookbook author. She was the food editor of The New York Times Magazine and the editor of T Living, a quarterly publication of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
(born 1972), American food writer, editor and cookbook author - Amanda Knox (born 1987), American woman imprisoned in Italy for the murder of Meredith KercherMurder of Meredith KercherThe murder of Meredith Kercher occurred in Perugia, Italy, on 1 November 2007. Kercher, aged 21 at the time of her death, was a British university exchange student from Coulsdon, south London. She was found dead on the floor of her bedroom with stab wounds to the throat...
- Amanda LangAmanda LangAmanda Lang is a Canadian journalist and senior business correspondent for CBC News. She anchors the daily The Lang and O'Leary Exchange on CBC News Network...
(born 1970), Canadian journalist and senior business correspondent for CBC News - Amanda SimpsonAmanda SimpsonAmanda Simpson is the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the United States Army . She was formerly the Senior Technical Adviser in the Bureau of Industry and Security and was the first openly transgender woman political appointee in any administration...
(born 1961), Senior Technical Adviser to the U.S. Department of Commerce and first openly transgender woman political appointee - Amanda VanstoneAmanda VanstoneAmanda Eloise Vanstone is a former Australian politician and a former Ambassador to Italy. She was a Liberal Senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007, and held several ministerial portfolios in the Howard Government. After her resignation from the Senate in 2007, she served as the Australian...
(born 1952), former Australian politician and current Ambassador to Italy
Fictional characters
- Amanda (Highlander)Amanda (Highlander)Amanda is a fictional character in the television series Highlander: The Series and Highlander: The Raven, portrayed by actress Elizabeth Gracen. She is one of the Immortals, immune to old age and death except by beheading...
, an immortal in the Highlander universe - Amanda CarringtonAmanda CarringtonAmanda Carrington is a fictional character on the American TV series Dynasty.The role was originated by Catherine Oxenberg early in the fifth season . Oxenberg left the series after the 1985-1986 season. The role was immediately recast with Karen Cellini, though no explanation was given as to why...
, on the television show Dynasty - Amanda Dillon Martin, a character on the ABC soap opera All My Children
- Amanda SeftonAmanda SeftonAmanda Sefton is a fictional character, a witch in the Marvel Universe. She is the foster sister and former lover of Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler of the X-Men....
, witch in the Marvel Comics universe - Amanda TanenAmanda TanenAmanda Tanen Sommers is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. She is played by Becki Newton. Amanda's character is a combination of Patricia Fernandez and Marcela Valencia, but her appearance is similar to Marcia Villarroel from the Columbian adaptation...
, on the television show Ugly Betty - Amanda WallerAmanda WallerDr. Amanda Blake Waller is a character published by DC Comics. She first appeared in Legends #1 in 1986, and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne...
, DC Comics villain - Amanda YoungAmanda YoungAmanda Young is a fictional character in the Saw film series. She is portrayed by Shawnee Smith. At first a minor character in the original film, her role expanded in the sequels until she became one of the most important characters in the series, being the only character besides Jigsaw himself to...
, John Kramer's accomplice in the Saw franchise