Tamara (given name) explained

Tamara
Gender:Feminine
Language:Various
Origin:Derived in Russian from the biblical name Tamar (he|תָּמָר) and spread to various other languages
Alternative Spelling:Tammara
Variant Forms:Tamra, Tamera, Thamara
Shortform:English: Tammie, Tammy
Russian: Mara, Tama
Petname:Toma (Russian)
Footnotes:[1]

Tamara is a variant of the Hebrew feminine given name Tamar, a biblical name. The variant originated in the Russian language and spread into other languages through Russian.[2] [3] In Russia, where Tamara is associated with Tamar of Georgia,[4] [5] the name remains popular and frequently appears in Russian literature. It is also common in Central, Eastern, and Southeast European countries.[6]

The name was formed through adding the Russian feminine suffix -a to Tamar (he|תָּמָר), which originated from the same generic noun for "date" (the fruit), "date palm" or just "palm tree". The derived Russian diminutive name is Toma, and its other shortened forms include Tama, Mara, Tata, and Tusya.[7] [8]

It first appeared in the English-speaking world in the 1930s and reached its peak in the 1970s. In the 1980s, it gained particular popularity among Black Americans.[9] In the United States, the name was quite common from the late 1950s to mid-1990; more than 1,000 girls were named Tamara annually through 1996, with the highest numbers occurring in the 1970s.[10] As of 2023, Tamara is relatively uncommon in the United States; in 2010, it dropped off the Top 1,000 Social Security Administration baby names list, with fewer than 250 instances recorded that year.[11] Since the 1930s, Tamara has ranked among the top 320 most popular names in Australia, with peak popularity from the 1970s through the 1990s.[12] [13]

In the United Kingdom, it was the 137th most popular girl's name in 1997 but had dropped to 779th in 2021 when it was given to 47 babies.[14] Cornish legends include a character named Tamara, associated with the River Tamar,[15] whose name is of Celtic origin.[16] According to Mabel Quiller-Couch's telling of the legend, Tamara was a sprite, the child of underground-living gnomes, who escaped to the earth's surface near Morwenstow and was turned into a river by her father when she refused to return underground, while the giants Tawridge and Tavy from Dartmoor, who fell in love with her, became the rivers Taw and Tavy.[17] The Tamara Coast to Coast Way is an 87miles walking route following the river Tamar.[18]

The name was also popular in Spain during the 1980s, possibly influenced by the daughter of Isabel Preysler and Carlos Falcó, Tamara Falcó.[19]

People named Tamara

Notable people with the given name Tamara include:

In the arts

Politicians and activists

Sportspeople

Others

Notes and References

  1. Book: Macleod. Iseabail. Freedman. Terry. [{{Google books|id=aE8OODf3LhsC|page=PA214|plainurl=yes}} The Wordsworth Dictionary of First Names ]. 1995. 214. Wordsworth Editions. 978-1-85326-366-8.
  2. Web site: Tàmara . Hrvatski jezični portal . . 31 October 2024 . hr . Dictionary . .
  3. Book: Hanks . Patrick . Hardcastle . Kate . Hodges . Flavia . A Dictionary of First Names . Tamara . Oxford University Press . 2006 . subscription . 978-0-19-861060-1. Book via online reference platform . Tamara ♀. Russian: probably derived from the Hebrew name Tamar, from a vocabulary word meaning ‘date palm’, with the addition of the feminine suffix -a. ....
  4. Book: Dictionary of first names . 1995 . London . Claremont Books . 978-1-85471-707-8.
  5. Web site: Significado do nome Tamara . 29 April 2024 . Crescer . pt-br.
  6. Slovakia; Transylvania, Romania; Serbia:
  7. Book: Benson, Morton. [{{Google books|id=AfIhzwEACAAJ|plainurl=yes}} Dictionary of Russian Personal Names]. 1967. 163, 167. University of Pennsylvania Press. 978-0-8122-7452-3.
  8. Book: Superanskaya, Aleksandra Vasilyevna <!--. Sovremennyy slovar' lichnykh imen: Sravnenie. Proiskhozhdenie. Napisanie--> . ru:Современный словарь личных имён: Сравнение. Происхождение. Написание . Modern Dictionary of Personal Names: Comparison. Origin. Spelling . Тамара . 2005 . Ajris-press . Moscow . 5-8112-1399-9 . 345 . Russian.
  9. Book: Dunkling, Leslie . The Facts on file dictionary of first names . 1984 . New York, N.Y. . Facts on File Publications . 978-0-87196-274-4.
  10. Web site: Girl Name Tamara - Trends, Comments and Popularity of Tamara . https://web.archive.org/web/20180828102649/http://w/girl-names/Tamara.html. 28 August 2018. www.babynameshub.com. Online database.
  11. Web site: Popular Baby Names . 29 April 2024 . www.ssa.gov . en.
  12. Web site: Nicholas . Josh . Close call: most popular Australian baby names of the past century revealed . 29 April 2024 . The Guardian . en.
  13. Web site: Popularity for the name Tamara - Behind the Name . 29 April 2024 . www.behindthename.com.
  14. Web site: Tamara . www.ukbabynames.com . UK Baby Names . 31 October 2024 . en.
  15. Web site: Martin . Sarah . Winning logo design for October’s Tamar Valley River Festival unveiled . . 7 November 2024 . 25 September 2024 . ... Tamara the nymph from the local legend that tells the story of the origins of the three rivers the Tamar, Tavy and Taw..
  16. Book: Mills, A. D. . A Dictionary of British Place Names . Thames . Oxford University Press . 2011 . subscription . 978-0-19-960908-6. Book via online reference platform .
  17. Book: Quiller-Couch . Mabel . Mabel Quiller-Couch . Cornwall's Wonderland . 1914 . 2 November 2024 . en . The Legend of the Tamar, the Tavy and the Taw. Project Gutenberg.
  18. Web site: Tamara Coast to Coast Way . Tamar Valley National Landscape . 31 October 2024 . en-gb.
  19. Web site: 4 August 2023 . Significado del nombre Tamara: origen e historia - Nombres de niña . 29 April 2024 . Ser Padres . es.

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