Sam

Sam started life as a clipped form of longer names beginning with the same three letters. For boys it nearly always stood for Samuel, occasionally Samson; for girls it came from Samantha. Behind the Name lists it as both masculine and feminine, and today plenty of parents register plain Sam on the birth certificate rather than keeping it as a nickname.

The meaning depends on which full name you trace it to, and even for Samuel the sources differ. Behind the Name splits the Hebrew Shemu'el into shem, 'name', and el, 'God', and offers 'God has heard' as a second reading, from the verb meaning to hear. Wiktionary gives 'God has set' or 'God has placed', and records a folk explanation, 'asked of God', tied to the biblical story of Hannah praying for a son. Samson is unrelated: it goes back to the Hebrew word for sun. Samantha is younger still, apparently built as a feminine Samuel with an ending that may echo the Greek anthos, 'flower'.

In British English Sam is said with a short, open vowel, rhyming with jam and ham. Because it is one syllable, it balances a longer middle name nicely: Sam Alexander, Sam Frederick, Sam Eleanor or Sam Rosalind all have a pleasing rhythm, and the full form can be held in reserve for formal occasions.

Sibling names in the same spirit are short, classic and easy to spell abroad, such as Noah, Finn, Tess or Lou. If you would like a stronger family link, Levi shares Sam's Old Testament background, while Mila keeps the same light, two-sound feel for a sister.