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Dictionary of Medieval Names
from European Sources
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Sampson m. Hebrew שִׁמְשׁוֹן 'of the sun'.

The name of a biblical character, a 5th C saint, and a 6th C saint. Wycliffite Bible (1395): Sampson.

The name was mostly confined to the British Isles and France, where it was moderately common in the 12th C.

England
Latin
● 1155 Sanson (nom) FPD p. 121, fn. 1; 1189 Samson (nom) GASurv p. 129, Sanson (nom) ibid. p. 121, Sansonis (gen) ibid. p. 130; 1256 Sampson (nom) EARNb p. 1
Early Modern English
● 1577 Samsen COmar-vol5 p. 5; 1579 Sampson COmar-vol2 p. 71; 1594 Sampson ibid. p. 24
France
Latin
● 1143 Sanson (nom) CartNDdOurscamp CXIX; 1160 Samson (nom) ibid. CXIV; 1180 Sanson (nom) RotScaNor p. 13, Sansone (abl) ibid. p. 4
Old French
● 1296 Sanson paris1296 p. 48; 1313 Sanson Paris1313 p. 6
Middle French
● 1392 Sanson MemBret-II col. 604; 1561 Sanson RegPCC-1 p. 5; 1562 Sanson ibid. p. 10; 1565 Sanson ibid. p. 194
Ireland
Latin
● fin12thC Samson (nom) MunDocIr III, p. 21, Samsun (nom) ibid. III, p. 9
Spain
Latin
● 875 Samson (abl) CDCB-XV MMXVI; 1019 Samson (nom) ibid. MMCLXXIV
Cite as: S.L. Uckelman. "Sampson". In S.L. Uckelman, ed. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Edition 2016, no. 3. http://dmnes.org/2016/3/name/Sampson.