Pamela is a feminine given name, often abbreviated to Pam. Pamela is also infrequently used as a surname.
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 πᾶν pan ("all") and μέλι meli ("honey"), but there is no evidence regarding what meaning, if any, Sidney intended for it.
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. 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.
The name's popularity may have been hindered by the tendency to pronounce it which was not fully superseded by the now-standard until the start of the 20th century when the name finally entered general usage. Pamela was very popular in Great Britain from the 1930s through 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. The name was similarly most used throughout the Anglosphere from the 1940s through the mid-1970s. For instance, it was among the one hundred most used names for girls in the United States between 1943 and 1976 and remained among the one thousand most used names for American girls until 2011. It has since declined in use.
Given name
People with the name or its variants include:
Pamela Adlon, née Segall
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Bellwood
Pamela J. Bjorkman
Pamella Bordes
Pamela Branch, British crime novelist
Pamela Britton
Pamela Brown, multiple people
Pamela Brooks
Pamela Bustin
Pamela Butchart, Scottish children's author
Pamela Carruthers
Pamela Chopra
Pamela Clabburn
Pamela Copus
Pamela Courson
Pamela Kyle Crossley
Pamela Crowe
Pamela Cundell
Pamela Dean
Pamela Des Barres, born Pamela Ann Miller
Pamela Duncan (novelist) Pamela Duncan (actress) Pamelyn Ferdin (or "Pamela Lynn"), child actress, animal rights activist Pamela Fitzgerald (disambiguation), multiple people Pamela Frank Pamela Frankau Pamela Franklin Pamela Gay, American astronomer Pamela Geller Pamela Gemin Pamela Gidley Pamela Gorkin, American mathematician Pamela Green, English model and actress Pamela Green (DJ) Pamela Gordon (actress), American actress Pamela Gordon (politician), Bermudian politician Pamela Anne Gordon, Canadian model 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 Joyner (born 1957/58), American art collector Pamela S. Karlan Pamela Katz Pamela M. Kilmartin Pamela Kirkham, 16th Baroness Berners Pamela Klassen Pamela Knaack Pamela Kunz Pamela Kurrell Pamela Levy Pamela London Pamela Martin (disambiguation), multiple people Pamela Sue Martin Pamela Melroy Pamela Morris Pamela Munro Pamela O'Malley, Irish-Spanish bohemian, educationalist and radical Pamela Pasinetti (born 1993), Thai-Italian model and beauty pageant titleholder Pamela Payton-Wright Pamela Rabe Pamela Rambo Pamela Ramljak Pamela C. Rasmussen Pamela Reed Pamela Ribon Pamela Rooks Pamela Salem Pamela Samuelson Pamela Sargent Pamela Sharples Pamela Susan Shoop Pamela Silver Pamela Smart Pamela A. Smith (born 1968), U.S. police chief Pamela Colman Smith Pamela Spence Pamela Springsteen Pamela Stein Pamela Stephenson Pamela Tiffin Pamela Lyndon "P. L." Travers Pamela Rogers Turner (born 1977), teacher and child rapist Pamela Vitale Pamela Wallin Pamela Willeford Pamela Williams Pamela Rouse Wright Pamela Wynne Pamela Zoline