Pamela was invented by the poet Philip Sidney for his romance Arcadia in the 1580s, probably from the Greek pan and meli, so it is usually read as "all honey" or "all sweetness". Samuel Richardson's 1740 novel Pamela made it a real given name, and it became a top 20 name in mid-century America, borne by the actress Pamela Anderson. Pamela was still at number 458 in 2000 and peaked at number 447 in 2003, but it has since dropped out of the top 1000 to number 2251 in 2025.