Samuel m. Origin disputed, either Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל 'name of God' or Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל 'God has heard'.
The eponymous character of two Old Testament books, a 7th C Coptic saint, a 10th-11th C tsar of Bulgaria, and an 11th C king of Hungary. Wycliffite Bible (1395): Samuel.
The name was not common in England before the Protestant Reformation, and was never common at all elsewhere. Early English examples are often (but not exclusively) the names of Jews.