Dictionary of Medieval Names
from European Sources

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
Dutch
1584 Samson AuFr Raphaels; 1592 Sampson ibid. Wolbort
Early Modern English
1481 Sampson HHB1481-90 p. 5; 1577 Samsen COmar-vol5 p. 5; 1579 Sampson COmar-vol2 p. 71; 1583/4 Sampson SurMus p. 19; 1594 Sampson COmar-vol2 p. 24
Middle French
1594 Sampson WCS p. 91
Walloon
1583 Sampson RWC p. 7
France
Latin
c823 Sanson (nom) irminon-vol2 40; 1143 Sanson (nom) CartNDdOurscamp CXIX; 1160 Samson (nom) ibid. CXIV; 1180 Sanson (nom) RotScaNor p. 13, Sansone (abl) ibid. p. 4; 1208 Sansoni (dat) ChartCaen2 7
Old French
1296 Sanson paris1296 p. 48; 1298 Sanson (obl) HistHdVParis p. 142; 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
Latvia
Middle Low German
1523 Sampsons (gen) Arbusow p. 98
Spain
Latin
875 Samson (abl) CDCB-XV MMXVI; 1019 Samson (nom) ibid. MMCLXXIV
Cite as: R. Le Get, S.L. Uckelman. "Sampson". In S.L. Uckelman, ed. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Edition 2023, no. 1. http://dmnes.org/2023/1/name/Sampson.