Pamela is a

feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

, often abbreviated to Pam. Pamela is also infrequently used as a

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

History

Sir

Philip Sidney Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan age. His works include a sonnet sequence, ' ...

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 Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: '' Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and '' The Histo ...

novel '' Pamela'' in 1740 or 1741 inaugurated the use of Pamela as a given name, though it remained a rare name. The name's popularity may have been hindered by the tendency to pronounce it which was not fully superseded by the now-standard until the start of the 20th century when the name finally entered general usage. Pamelia was a commonly used version of the name in use in the Southern United States. This evolved into Permelia, a variant of the name in use since the 1700s. Other derivations and spelling variants in use in the 18th and 19th centuries included Palmelia, Pamala, Pamelea, Pamella, Pamelie, Pamena, Pamida, Pamina, Pamla, Pammala, Parmela, Parmelia, Parmilla, and Permilia. 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 No. 20, No. 17 and No. 24. Evidently less popular from the 1960s—being ranked on the respective 1964 tally at No. 67—the name Pamela has grown increasingly unfashionable in recent years. The name was similarly most used throughout the

Anglosphere The Anglosphere, also known as the Anglo-American world, is a Western-led sphere of influence among the Anglophone countries. The core group of this sphere of influence comprises five developed countries that maintain close social, cultura ...

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 Pamela Adlon ( ; ; born July 9, 1966) is an American-British actress. She is known for voicing Bobby Hill in the animated comedy series ''King of the Hill'' (1997–2010), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She also voiced Baloo in '' Ju ...

(née Segall), American actress, writer and director *

Pamela Anderson Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress, model and media personality. She rose to prominence after being selected as the February 1990 ''Playboy'' Playmate of the Month. She went on to make regular appearan ...

, Canadian-American actress, model and media personality * Pamela Bach (1963–2025), American actress * Pamela Barnes (1937–1975), New Zealand artist * Pamela Bellwood, American actress * Pamela J. Bjorkman, American biochemist and molecular biologist * Pamela Bondi (born 1965), Attorney General of the United States * Pamella Bordes, Indian choreographer and model * , Indonesian actress * Pamela Branch, British crime novelist * Pamela Britton, American actress and singer * Pamela Brown, multiple people * Pamela Brooks, British writer * Pamela Bustin, American field hockey player-coach * Pamela Butchart, Scottish children's author * Pamela Carruthers, British showjumper, and showjumping course designer * Pamela Chopra, Indian playback singer and film producer * Pamela Clabburn, British museum curator and writer * Pamela Copus, American musical artist *

Pamela Courson Pamela Susan Courson (December 22, 1946 – April 25, 1974) was the long-term companion of Jim Morrison, singer of the Doors. Courson stated she discovered Morrison's body in the bathtub of a Paris apartment in 1971. She died three years after h ...

, long-term companion of Jim Morrison * Pamela Kyle Crossley, historian * Pamela Crowe, Manx politician * Pamela Cundell, British actress *

Pamela Dean Pamela Collins Dean Dyer-Bennet (born 1953), better known as Pamela Dean, is an American fantasy author whose best-known book is ''Tam Lin (novel), Tam Lin'', based on the Child Ballads, Child Ballad of the Tam Lin, same name, in which the Scott ...

, American fantasy author *

Pamela Des Barres Pamela Des Barres (; born Pamela Ann Miller; September 9, 1948) is an American rock and roll groupie, writer, musician, and actress. She is best known for her 1987 memoir, '' I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie'', which details her experi ...

(born Pamela Ann Miller), American rock and roll groupie, writer, musician, and actress * Pamela Duncan (novelist), American novelist * Pamela Duncan (actress), American actress * Pamelyn Ferdin (or "Pamela Lynn"), child actress, animal rights activist * Pamela Fitzgerald (disambiguation), multiple people * Pamela Frank, American musician * Pamela Frankau, English novelist * Pamela Franklin, British actress * Pamela Gay, American astronomer * Pamela Geller, American anti-Muslim, far-right political activist, blogger and commentator * Pamela Gemin, American writer and academic *

Pamela Gidley Pamela Catherine Gidley (June 11, 1965 – April 16, 2018) was an American actress and model. She began her career as an actress in 1986, debuting in the film ''Thrashin' (film), Thrashin, before appearing in a number of films, including ''Dud ...

, American actress and model * Pamela Gorkin, American mathematician * Pamela Green, English model and actress * Pamela Green (DJ), American hip hop girl group formed in 1985 * Pamela Gordon (actress), American actress * Pamela Gordon (politician), Bermudian politician * Pamela Anne Gordon, Canadian model * Pamela Harmsworth, Viscountess Rothermere, British viscountess *

Pamela Harriman Pamela Beryl Harriman (''née'' Digby; 20 March 1920 – 5 February 1997), also known as Pamela Churchill Harriman, was an English political activist for the Democratic Party, diplomat, and socialite. She married three times: her first husband ...

, American diplomat * Pamela Hayden, American actress * Pamela Healy, American sailor * Pamela Hensley, American actress and author *

Lady Pamela Hicks Lady Pamela Carmen Louise Hicks (''née'' Mountbatten; born 19 April 1929) is a British nobility, British aristocrat and relative of the British royal family. She is the younger daughter of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (form ...

, British aristocrat and relative of the British royal family * Pamela Isaacs, American singer and actress * Pamela Jelimo, Kenyan middle distance runner * Pamela Hansford Johnson, English writer and critic * Pamela Jones, computer law scholar * Pamela Joyner (born 1957/58), American art collector * Pamela S. Karlan, American legal scholar * Pamela Katz, American screenwriter and novelist * Pamela M. Kilmartin, New Zealand astronomer * Pamela Kirkham, 16th Baroness Berners, British parliamentarian * Pamela Klassen, scholar of religion * Pamela Knaack, German actress * Pamela Kunz, American oncologist * Pamela Kurrell, American discus thrower * Pamela Levy, Israeli artist * Pamela London, Guyanese boxer * Pamela Martin (disambiguation), multiple people *

Pamela Sue Martin Pamela Sue Martin (born January 5, 1953) is an American actress, who is best known for starring as Nancy Drew on the television series '' The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries'' (1977–1979) and as socialite Fallon Carrington on ABC soap opera ...

, American actress *

Pamela Melroy Pamela Ann Melroy (born September 17, 1961) is an American retired United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut serving as the deputy administrator of NASA. She served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-112 and commanded mi ...

, American astronaut * Pamela Morris, English publisher and teacher * Pamela Munro, American linguist * Pamela O'Malley, Irish-Spanish bohemian, educationalist and radical * Pamela Pasinetti (born 1993), Thai-Italian model and beauty pageant titleholder * Pamela Payton-Wright, American actress * Pamela Rabe, Canadian actress * Pamela Rai (born 1966), Canadian swimmer * Pamela Rambo, colorist * Pamela Ramljak, Hungarian musical artist * Pamela C. Rasmussen, American ornithologist * Pamela Reed, American actress * Pamela Ribon, American screenwriter, author, blogger and actress * Pamela Rooks, Indian film director and screenwriter * Pamela Salem, British actress *

Pamela Samuelson Pamela Samuelson (born August 4, 1948) is an American legal scholar, activist, and philanthropist. She is the Richard M. Sherman '74 Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she has been a mem ...

, American lawyer and professor * Pamela Sargent, American feminist, science fiction author, and editor * Pamela Sharples, British politician * Pamela Susan Shoop, American actress and writer * Pamela Silver, American biologist * Pamela Smart, American criminal * Pamela A. Smith (born 1968), U.S. police chief *

Pamela Colman Smith Pamela Colman Smith (16 February 1878 – 16 September 1951), nicknamed "Pixie", was a British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best-known for illustrating the Rider–Waite Tarot (also known as the Rider–Waite– ...

, British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist * , Indonesian actress * Pamela Jayne Soles (born 1950), American actress, commonly known as P. J. Soles * Pamela Spence, Turkish actress and singer * Pamela Spitzmueller (1950–2025), American conservator and book artist * Pamela Springsteen, American actress and photographer * Pamela Stein, American model *

Pamela Stephenson Pamela Stephenson, Lady Connolly (born 4 December 1949) is a New Zealand-born psychologist, writer, actress and comedian. She moved with her family to Australia in 1953 and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). After playi ...

, New Zealand-born psychologist, writer, actress and comedian * Pamela Veuleman Trammell, American historian and clubwoman * Pamela Tiffin, American actress and model * Pamela Lyndon "P. L." Travers, Australian-British writer * Pamela Rogers Turner (born 1977), teacher and child rapist * Pamela Vitale, American murderer * Pamela Wallin, Canadian politician * Pamela Willeford, American Ambassador * Pamela Williams, American musician * Pamela Rouse Wright, American philanthropist, clubwoman, businesswoman, and jewelry designer * Pamela Wynne, British writer *

Pamela Zoline Pamela Zoline (or Pamela Lifton-Zoline; born on June 20, 1941) is an American science fiction writer, painter, and activist. Background Zoline was born in Chicago, Illinois but lived in the United Kingdom, especially London, for the first two dec ...

, American writer and painter

Surname

* Lucia Pamela, American musician

Fictional characters

* Pamela, one of the Thea Sisters in ''

Thea Stilton ''Geronimo Stilton'' is an Italy, Italian children's book series created by Elisabetta Dami and written under the pen name of the title character. Scholastic Corporation began publishing the English version of the series in the US in February 20 ...

'' * Ursula ''Pamela'' Buffay,

Phoebe Buffay Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan (; born 16 February 1969) is one of the six main characters from the American television sitcom, ''Friends''. She was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and portrayed by actress Lisa Kudrow. In the series' unive ...

's twin sister in NBC sitcom ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'' * Pamela Andrews, heroine of Samuel Richardson's novel ''

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' is an epistolary novel first published in 1740 by the English writer Samuel Richardson. Considered one of the first true English novels, it serves as Richardson's version of conduct literature about marriage. ...

'' (1740–1741) * Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley or

Poison Ivy Poison ivy is a type of allergenic plant in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' native to Asia and North America. Formerly considered a single species, '' Toxicodendron radicans'', poison ivies are now generally treated as a complex of three separate s ...

, character in

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

and

enemy An enemy or a foe is an individual or a group that is considered as forcefully adverse or threatening. The concept of an enemy has been observed to be "basic for both individuals and communities". The term "enemy" serves the social function of d ...

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

Pamela Voorhees Pamela Voorhees () is a fictional character and the overarching antagonist of the ''Friday the 13th'' series of horror films. She was created by Victor Miller, and first appeared in Sean S. Cunningham's '' Friday the 13th'' (1980), played by ...

, in the '' Friday the 13th'' films * Pamela Barnes Ewing, in TV series ''

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

'' * Pamela, one of the main characters of the 1987 Mexican sitcom television series '' ¡Ah qué Kiko!'' * Pamela Abbott, one of the Abbott sisters in the movie, '' Inventing the Abbotts'' * Pamela Douglas, from soap opera ''

The Bold and the Beautiful ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''Th ...

'' * Pamela Ibis, a recurring character from the ''Atelier'' series of video games. * Pamela Moran, a main character in ''

Army Wives ''Army Wives'' is an American drama television series that followed the lives of four army wives, one army husband, and their families. The series premiered on Lifetime on June 3, 2007, and ran for seven seasons, ending on June 9, 2013. The sh ...

'' * Pamela Byrnes (later Focker), a main character in the ''

Meet the Parents ''Meet the Parents'' is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. It stars Ben Stiller as Greg Focker, a nurse who suffers a series of unfortunate events while visiting his girlfriend's paren ...

'' film trilogy * Pamela Beesly, from the sitcom ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'' * Pamela Swynford De Beaufort, from the HBO TV series, ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy Horror fiction, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball (screenwriter), Alan Ball. It is based on ''The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels ...

''.

References

{{Given name, Pamela English given names English feminine given names Feminine given names English-language feminine given names

History

Given name

Surname

Fictional characters

See also

References