A male name. Hebrew ‘name of God’ or ‘heard of God’, the name of one of the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, who anointed Saul as first king of Israel. Samuel was rare as a christian name in the Middle Ages, though examples occur in 13th-C records, and the surnames Samuel, Samwell occur as early as 1273. Not all of these were Jewish, though some may have been. After the Reformation Samuel became a favourite name, an early example being Samuel Danfel the poet (1562-1619). It continued in general use after the Restoration, when many Biblical names went out, and is still a common working-class name, usually abbreviated to Sam.

Samuel Curia Regis Rolls 1200-1215, Hundred Rolls 1273. Samewell Church Registers of St. Mary Aldermary, 1558-1754 1628.

Is a particularly apt name, for, as Charlotte Yonge phrases it with pardonable sentiment, ‘“Asked of God” is the import of Samuel, a name so endeared by the beautiful history of the call to the child in the temple, that it could not be quite forgotten... The reading of the Holy Scriptures was... the cause of its use here..., since we scarcely find it before the Reformation. ‘

From Σαμουηλ, the Greek form of the Scripture name, in Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל, Sh’muel, from sh’mu-El, heard of God. The nicknames are Sam and Sammy.

Sam'-u-el, heard or asked of God. The son of Elkanah and Hannah, of the tribe of Levi, and family of Kohath: he was born A. M. 2833. 1 Sam. i. 1, &c. He was an eminent prophet, historian, and the seventeenth judge of Israel: he died in the ninety-eighth year of his age. It is doubtful whether he was a priest: he wore an ephod, anointed kings, and offered sacrifices, but he was not of the race of Aaron.

Meaning: his name (is) of God (?).

A Hebrew name, meaning: Asked of God: name of God: heard of God.

A Gaelic name: Samuel, Somhairle. The latter really is Somerled, Middle Gaelic Somuirle (M‘V.), Somairli (1467 MS.); from Norse Sumarliði, which means a mariner, viking, “summer sailor,” from sumar and liði, a follower, sailor.