Samatha
Samatha was last recorded in 2018, when 5 babies were given it; 4,202 Americans have been recorded with it between 1964 and 2018 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,050 Americans named Samatha and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 38 years old and half are between 33 and 45.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Samatha by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Samatha mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Samatha is “a female given name from Sanskrit.” Its etymology gives the senses “tranquility” (meaning) and “concentration” (and) and “equality” (or).
From Sanskrit समाधान (samādhāna) (śamatha) meaning “tranquility” and “concentration” (referring to Buddhist meditation) or “equality”.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Samatha?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #17,701, in 2018; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
248 babies in 1989, the peak
Samatha peaked in 1989, when 248 girls were given it, #778 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 5 | #17,701 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 6 | #15,600 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 9 | #11,810 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 10 | #11,038 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 14 | #8,626 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 19 | #7,015 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 22 | #6,313 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 25 | #5,669 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 15 | #8,162 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 32 | #4,350 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (51)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 43 | #3,479 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 41 | #3,513 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 48 | #3,052 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 49 | #2,948 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 56 | #2,662 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 74 | #2,089 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 83 | #1,861 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 82 | #1,824 | 0.05 |
| 1996 | 78 | #1,876 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 104 | #1,509 | 0.06 |
| 1994 | 120 | #1,376 | 0.07 |
| 1993 | 142 | #1,223 | 0.08 |
| 1992 | 171 | #1,065 | 0.09 |
| 1991 | 177 | #1,035 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 221 | #878 | 0.12 |
| 1989 | 248 | #778 | 0.13 |
| 1988 | 222 | #823 | 0.12 |
| 1987 | 199 | #859 | 0.11 |
| 1986 | 207 | #814 | 0.12 |
| 1985 | 154 | #994 | 0.09 |
| 1984 | 142 | #1,009 | 0.08 |
| 1983 | 132 | #1,057 | 0.08 |
| 1982 | 126 | #1,123 | 0.07 |
| 1981 | 95 | #1,325 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 84 | #1,457 | 0.05 |
| 1979 | 100 | #1,282 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 99 | #1,252 | 0.06 |
| 1977 | 69 | #1,575 | 0.05 |
| 1976 | 88 | #1,270 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 82 | #1,330 | 0.06 |
| 1974 | 57 | #1,641 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 55 | #1,662 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 49 | #1,781 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 56 | #1,661 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 49 | #1,822 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 56 | #1,606 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 50 | #1,642 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 36 | #1,972 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 34 | #2,016 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 58 | #1,456 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 9 | #4,930 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Samatha a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Samatha has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 51 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Samatha: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Samatha, and how old are they?
4,050 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 4,202 Americans ever recorded as Samatha. The median Samatha alive today is 38 years old; half are between 33 and 45.
The 2020 Census counted 5,965 people named Samatha (5,954 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,094 born in the U.S. The Census count is 46% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 954 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,470 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 605 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 20 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Samatha born?
The states with the most babies named Samatha are California, Texas and New York, with 36% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 298 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 266 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 186 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 142 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 107 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 106 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Florida | 102 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 91 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 88 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Kentucky | 75 | not ranked | 1.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Samatha with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 4,588 babies since 1880, Samatha is the most given (92% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Samatha
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Samatha and names like it
- Compare Samatha and SamhithaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sSamatha peaked in 1989.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Samatha since 1910.
- Sanskrit namesWiktionary’s origin for Samatha: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1989The year the most babies were named Samatha.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Samatha alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.