girl's name
Pamela
PAM-uh-luh
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 615,147
Scotland
#765
2018 births
Pamela is a girl's name invented by a poet: Sir Philip Sidney coined it for his Arcadia around 1580, apparently from Greek elements meaning all sweetness. It is one of very few names on this site whose creation can be dated to a specific book.
- Pamela is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1954, when 27,398 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 40,432 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1895.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Pamela over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1890s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1890s | 11 |
| 1900s | 11 |
| 1910s | 150 |
| 1920s | 627 |
| 1930s | 1,873 |
| 1940s | 73,299 |
| 1950s | 237,775 |
| 1960s | 182,401 |
| 1970s | 58,267 |
| 1980s | 25,841 |
| 1990s | 8,428 |
| 2000s | 5,260 |
| 2010s | 1,917 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 602 |
What Pamela means
Pamela is usually explained as all sweetness or all honey, from Greek elements. Sidney did not record what he intended, so the meaning is a reconstruction from the parts rather than a stated definition.
Where Pamela comes from
Pamela was made up. Sir Philip Sidney used it for a princess in his prose romance Arcadia, written around 1580, and there is no trace of it before him. The usual reconstruction takes pan, all, with meli, honey — all sweetness — which fits the Renaissance habit of building classical-looking names from Greek roots, though Sidney left no note explaining it. He also stressed it on the second syllable, pa-MEE-la, and it was still said that way when Samuel Richardson used it for his 1740 novel Pamela, the book that turned a literary curiosity into a real name. The modern first-syllable stress came later.
Pamela in use
Pamela peaked in the United States in 1954, when 27,398 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 2248th in the United States on 82 births, 2732nd in England and Wales and 6715th in France, across 615,147 lifetime births. Our records carry it from 1895, so the entire measured life of a name invented in the 1580s falls within the last 130 years — it took three centuries and a bestselling novel to move from page to birth certificate.
How popular is Pamela?
In 2025, Pamela was given to 82 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Pamela is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Pamela is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Paméla | Paméla is a rare spelling of Pamela, written with an acute accent and recorded about 850 times, mostly in France. | 850 |
Names that peaked alongside Pamela
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Pamela also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Pamela over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Pamela
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Pamela in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Portuguese
- Pamala
Sibling names for Pamela
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Pamela — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Pamela
What does the name Pamela mean?
Usually given as all sweetness, from Greek pan and meli — though its inventor never recorded what he meant.
Who invented the name Pamela?
Sir Philip Sidney, for his romance Arcadia around 1580. There is no trace of the name before him.
Was Pamela once said differently?
Yes — pa-MEE-la, with the stress on the second syllable, into the eighteenth century.
How popular is Pamela?
2248th in the United States, down from a 1954 peak of 27,398 births.
Is Pamela a girl's or a boy's name?
Pamela is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Pamela?
Pamela has 3 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Pamela?
Pamela is usually shortened to Pam and Pammy.
Is Pamela a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Pamela currently ranks #2,248 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.