Pamela (name)

Pamela
Pronunciation	/ˈpæmələ/ PAM-ə-lə
Gender	Female
Origin
Word/name	unknown
Region of origin	England, 16th century
Other names
Related names	Pam

Pamela is a feminine given name. Pamela is often abbreviated to Pam.^[1] Pamela is infrequently used as a surname.^[2]

History

Sir Philip Sidney invented the name Pamela for a pivotal character in his epic prose work, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, written in the late 16th century and published posthumously. The name is widely taken to mean "all sweetness", formed on the Greek words παν pan ("all") and μέλη meli ("honey"),^[2][3] but there is no evidence regarding what meaning, if any, Sidney intended for it.^[4]

The Samuel Richardson novel Pamela in 1740 or 1741 inaugurated the use of Pamela as a given name but it was not in common usage until the 20th century.^[2] A rare early bearer of the name: Lady Edward FitzGerald (c.1773–1831), although known by the first name Pamela was born Stephanie Caroline Anne Syms. ^[5]

The name's popularity may have been hindered by the tendency to pronounce it /pəˈmiːlə/ pə-MEE-lə which was not fully superseded by the now-standard /ˈpæmələ/ PAM-ə-lə until the start of the 20th century when the name finally entered general usage. ^[6] Pamela was very popular in Great Britain from the 1930s through the the 1950s with the tallies of the most popular names for British newborn girls for the respective years 1934, 1944 and 1954 ranking Pamela at respectively #20, #17 and #24. Evidently less popular from the 1960s - being ranked on the respective 1964 tally at #67 - the name Pamela has grown increasingly unfashionable, with a reported total of eleven newborn girls in Britain given the name in 2009. ^[7]

Given name

People with the name or its variants include:

Pamela Anderson Pam Ayres Pamela Bellwood Pamela J. Bjorkman Pamella Bordes Pamela Britton Pamela Brown, multiple people Pamela Brooks Pamela Bustin Pamela Chopra Pamela Copus Pamela Courson Pamela Kyle Crossley Pamela Crowe Pamela Cundell Pam Dawber Pamela Dean Pamela Des Barres born Pamela Ann Miller Pamela Duncan (novelist) Pamela Duncan (actress) Pamelyn Ferdin (or 'Pamela Lynn'), former child actress, animal rights activist Pamela Fitzgerald, multiple people Pamela Frank Pamela Frankau Pamela Franklin

Pamela Geller Pamela Gemin Pamela Gidley Pamela Green Pamela Green (DJ) Pamela Gordon, American actress Pamela Gordon, Bermudian politician Pamela Anne Gordon, Canadian playboy model Pam Grier Pamela Harmsworth, Viscountess Rothermere Pamela Harriman Pamela Hayden Pamela Healy Pamela Hensley Lady Pamela Hicks Pamela Isaacs Pamela Jelimo Pamela Hansford Johnson Pamela Jones Pamela M. Kilmartin Pamela Levy Pamela London Pam Long Pamela Martin, multiple people Pamela Sue Martin Pamela Melroy Pamela Munro Pamela Payton-Wright Pamela Rambo

Pamela Ramljak Pamela C. Rasmussen Pamela Reed Pamela Ribon Pamela Rooks Pamela Salem Pamela Samuelson Pamela Sargent Pamela Segall Pamela Sharples Pamela Susan Shoop Pamela Silver Pamela Smart Pamela Colman Smith Pamela Spence Pamela Springsteen Pamela Stein Pamela Stephenson Pamela Lyndon Travers Pamela Rogers Turner Pamela Vitale Pamela Wallin Pamela Willeford Pamela Williams Pamela Wynne Pamela Zoline

Surname

• Lucia Pamela

Fictional characters

• Pamela Andrews, heroine of Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740–41)
• Pamela of the Jungle, a comic-book jungle girl created by Italian author Enrico Teodorani^[8]
• Pam Halpert, a character in The Office
• Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley or Poison Ivy
• Pam, from the film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• Pamela Voorhees, a character in the Friday the 13th films
• Pamela Barnes Ewing, a character in TV series Dallas
• Pam, a vampire bouncer from The Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse Series by author Charlaine Harris and an American television drama series True Blood.
• Pamela Abbott, one of the Abbot sisters and Doug's love interest (Joaquin Phoenix) in the movie, Inventing the Abbotts
• Pamela "Pam" James, from the TV series Martin
• Pamela Douglas a character from Soap Opera The Bold and the Beautiful
• Pamela Ibis, a recurring character from the Atelier series of video games.

See also

• Pam (disambiguation)
• List of Wikipedia articles starting with Pamela
• List of Wikipedia articles starting with Pam

References

1. "Pam". Behind the Name.
2. "Pamela – name meaning and origin". Think Baby Names. thinkbabynames.com. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
3. "Pamela". Behind the Name.
4. Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press.
5. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Pamela Fitzgerald
6. Norman, Teresa (2003). A World of Baby Names. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group. p. 141. ISBN 0-399-52894-6.
7. http://www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2011/06/top-100-drop-outs-where-are-they-now-.html
8. "Pamela of the jungle". digilander.libero.it.