Samson - Meaning of Samson

What does Samson mean?

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Samson

[ 2 syll. sam-son, sa-ms-on ] The baby boy name Samson is pronounced SAEM-SahN (English) †. Samson is of Hebrew origin, and it is used largely in the English and German languages. The name's meaning is 'sun child, little sun'. It is a biblical name derived from the element shemesh which means 'sun'. An old form of Samson is Shimshon (Hebrew). The name was borne in the Bible by the Israeli leader known for his unparalleled strength; he was deceived by his mistress Delilah and captured, but he managed to exact revenge and destroy his captors by bringing down the temple of the Philistines, killing himself in the process. His story was later popularized as the subject of Samson Agonistes (1671), a tragic closet drama by John Milton. The name was also borne by the famous 5th and 6th century Saint Samson of Dol, one of the seven founder saints of Brittany; his name could however be of an obscure Celtic origin. The name has been adopted by English speakers since the Middle Ages; it later saw a revival among the 17th century Puritans.

Samson has 14 derivatives that are used in English and foreign languages. Derivatives used in English include Sammie, Sansom, Sansome, Sanson (also used in French and Spanish), Sansum, and Shimshon. The contraction Sam, the diminutive form Sammy, and the variant spelling Sampson are other English forms.

Foreign derivatives of Samson include Samzun (Breton), Sansao (Portuguese), Sansone (Italian), Sansón (Spanish), and Simson (Scandinavian).

See also the related categories, strength, leader (king), sun, puritans, english, revival, brittany, biblical, hebrew, obscure, celtic, john, saints (catholic), and german.

Samson is fairly popular as a baby name for boys. The name has been rising in popularity since the 2000s. At the modest peak of its usage in 2018, 0.026% of baby boys were given the name Samson. It ranked at #547 then. Out of all boy names in its group, Samson was the most popular in 2018. 12% more boys were named Samson than the next ranked name, Sam, in that year.

Baby names that sound like Samson include Saimon, Salmon, Saman, Samen, Samman, Sammen, Sammon, Sammun, Samun, Samzun, Sang Min, Sansom, Sansome, Sanson, Sansum, Schuman, Schumann, Schumen, Seaman, and Semon.

† Pronunciation for Samson: S as in "see (S.IY)" ; AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; M as in "me (M.IY)" ; AH as in "mud (M.AH.D)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"