Given name & surname
Pam
“very strange”·“a woman who is as sweet as honey”
In English use, Pam is a diminutive of Pamela. Interpretations include “very strange” and “a woman who is as sweet as honey” (English). These may reflect different naming traditions.
Meaning & origin
What it means
In English use, Pam is a diminutive of Pamela. Interpretations include “very strange” and “a woman who is as sweet as honey” (English). These may reflect different naming traditions.
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
In English use, Pam is a diminutive of Pamela. An origin associated with Pamela is English.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In English usage, Pam is a diminutive of Pamela.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1915. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. In English use, Pam is a diminutive of Pamela. The history of Pamela gives this family its wider story. Philip Sidney created Pamela in the Elizabethan period. Samuel Richardson later used it for the heroine of his 1740 novel; Henry Fielding’s response, Joseph Andrews, helped make the name part of an eighteenth-century literary conversation.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Pam through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 33,148
- 23 boys · 33,125 girls
- Most popular year
- 1959
- 3,677 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 1996. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 3,677 in 1959. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 44,546 as a first name in 2020; 785 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Pam’s family of names
In English usage, Pam is a diminutive of Pamela.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Pam
- Pam BondiAmerican attorney and politician (born 1965)
- Pam ShriverAmerican tennis playerborn 1962
- Pam FerrisBritish actressborn 1948
- Pam DawberAmerican actressborn 1951
- Pam KilbornAustralian athleteborn 1939
- Pam TillisAmerican country music singer-songwriter and actressborn 1957
- Pam TeeguardenAmerican tennis playerborn 1951
- Pam MarshallAmerican sprinterborn 1960
- Pam Bileckformer gymnastborn 1968
Characters named Pam: Pam Beesly (fictional character on NBC's The Office), Pam Ewing (CBS' Dallas).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Pam, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Pammy
“very strange” · “a woman who is as sweet as honey”
>99% girls
Pammie
“very strange” · “a woman who is as sweet as honey”
>99% girls
Darce
“having dark features”
>99% girls
Darcee
“having dark features” · “a dark beauty”
>99% girls
Darsi
“having dark features”
>99% girls
Merrie
“one who is lighthearted and joyful” · “filled with joy”
>99% girls
Sherli
“from the bright clearing”
>99% girls
Sandrah
“helper and defender of mankind”
>99% girls