Samira (also spelled Samirah, Sameera, and Sameerah /sæˈmiːrə/, ar, سميرة is an Arabic female given name. It is derived from the
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
s-m-r ('to spend the night in talking'), ultimately meaning ''night-companion'', ''entertaining companion'', ''the one with lively conversation''. The masculine version of this name is
Samir.
In
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, Sameera (IAST: samīraḥ, Sanskrit: समीरः) is a masculine name, meaning "breeze, wind", or "the god of wind".
[https://sanskritdictionary.com/sam%C4%ABra/252695/1] Many people with the name deriving from Sanskrit shorten their name to
Samir or Sameer.
People
Samira
*
Samira Ahmed
Samira Ahmed (born 15 June 1968) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she has presented Radio 3's ''Night Waves'' and Radio 4's '' PM'', ''The World Tonight'', '' Sunday'' and '' Front Row'' and has presented the ...
(born 1968), British television reporter
*
Samira Asghari Samira Asghari (born 31 March 1994) is a member of the International Olympic Committee for Afghanistan since 2018. Upon her election at the age of 24, Asghari became the first representative from Afghanistan and one of the youngest ever members to j ...
(born 1994), Afghan member of the International Olympic Committee
*
Samira Awad
Samira Mohamad Awad ( ar, سميرة محمد عوض; born 30 June 2000) is a Lebanese footballer who plays as a winger for Lebanese club Safa.
Club career
Awad joined Safa in 2019; she scored 13 goals and made 11 assists in 14 games in the ...
(born 2000), Lebanese footballer
*
Samira Bellil
Samira Bellil (24 November 1972 – 4 September 2004) was a French feminist activist and a campaigner for the rights of girls and women.
Bellil became famous in France with the publication of her autobiographical book ''Dans l'enfer des tournante ...
(1972–2004), French feminist working for the rights of women in traditional Muslim settings
*
Samira Besic, German of singer of Bosnian origin of the Eurodance group
Maxx
*
Samira Efendi
Samira Azer gizi Efendiyeva (; born 17 April 1991), known as Samira Efendi or Efendi, is an Azerbaijani singer. She represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Mata Hari".
Career Early career
Efendiyeva gained popu ...
, Azerbaijani singer, who will represent
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2021
The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the ...
*
Samira Gutoc
Samira Ali Gutoc (born 19 December 1974) is a Filipina civic leader, journalist, environmentalist, women's rights advocate and politician. She served as a member of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao a ...
(born 1974), Filipino journalist and politician
*
Samira Makhmalbaf
Samira Makhmalbaf ( fa, سمیرا مخملباف, ''Samira Makhmalbaaf'') (born 15 February 1980)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
* "Sutherland Trophy", London Film Festival (1998), UK.
* "Special Mention, Official Jury", Locarno Fi ...
(born 1980), Iranian film director
*
Samira Mighty
Samira Mighty (born 16 November 1995) is an English television personality, actress and singer. Mighty began her career with appearances in West End theatre shows including '' Mamma Mia!'' and ''Dreamgirls'', as well as an appearance in the 201 ...
(born 1996), English television personality and actress
*
Samira Mubareka
Samira Mubareka (born 1972) is a Canadian microbiologist who is a clinical scientist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Her research considers the influenza virus, viral transmission and aerobiology. During the COVID-1 ...
(born 1972), Canadian clinical scientist
*
Samira Said
Samira Abdelrazak Bensaïd ( ar, سميرة عبد الرزاق بنسعيد, Samīra ʿAbd ar-Razzāq ibn Saʿīd; born 10 January 1958), professionally known as Samira Said ( ar, سميرة سعيد, Samīra Saʿīd), is a Moroccan singer, who ...
(born 1958), Moroccan pop singer
*
Samira Shahbandar
Samira Shahbandar ( ar, سميرة الشابندر, born 1946) is an Iraqi former doctor and physician. She was the second wife of Saddam Hussein.
Early life
Shahbandar was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1946. Shahbandar was born into an aristocra ...
, Saddam Hussein's second wife
*
Samira Tewfik
Samira Ghastin Karimona ( ar, سميرة غسطين كريمونة; born 25 December 1935), better known by her stage name Samira Tewfik ( ar, سميرة توفيق, surname also spelled ''Tawfik'', ''Tawfiq'', ''Toufiq'' or ''Taoufiq'') is a Leb ...
(born 1935), Lebanese Syrian singer of Bedouin dialect
*
Samira Wiley
Samira Denise Wiley (born April 15, 1987) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Poussey Washington in the Netflix comedy-drama series '' Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019) and as Moira in the Hulu dystopian dr ...
(born 1987), American actress
*
Princess Samira, a fictional princess in
Shimmer and Shine
''Shimmer and Shine'' is an American animated television series created by Farnaz Esnaashari-Charmatz and produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block on August 24, 2015, and ran for four seasons. The sh ...
Sameera
*
Sameera Al Bitar
Sameera Al Bitar, sometimes listed as "Samira" or "Al-Bitar", (born February 21, 1990 in Jordan), is a 2-time Olympic swimmer from Bahrain.
She was one of the first Muslim women representing an Arabian Peninsula country to swim in the Olympic G ...
(born 1990), Olympic swimmer from Bahrain
*
Sameera bint Ibrahim Rajab Sameera bint Ibrahim Rajab is a Bahraini politician and former member of ''Majlis al-shura'' and Minister of State for Information.
Education
Rajab did her BSc in Economics from Beirut Arab University and also holds diplomas in Communication Manag ...
, Bahraini politician
*
Sameera Moussa
Sameera Moussa () (March 3, 1917 – August 5, 1952) was the first female Egyptian nuclear physicist. Sameera held a doctorate in atomic radiation. She hoped her work would one day lead to affordable medical treatments and the peaceful use of ...
, Egyptian nuclear scientist
*
Sameera Perera
Sameera Perera (born 20 August 1988) is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and slow left-arm bowler who plays for Ragama Cricket Club. He was born in Kegalle
Kegalle ( si, කෑගල්ල; ta, கேகாலை) is a lar ...
(born 1988), Sri Lankan cricketer
*
Sameera Reddy
Sameera Reddy (born 14 December 1978) is a former Indian actress who primarily worked in Hindi films, in addition to Tamil and Telugu language films. Reddy made her film debut with the 2002 film ''Maine Dil Tujhko Diya''. She is best known for ...
(born 1980), Indian film actress
*
Sameera Sadamal
Sameera Sadamal (born 24 December 1993) is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He made his List A debut for Matale District in the 2016–17 Districts One Day Tournament on 18 March 2017. He made his Twenty20 debut for Kalutara Town Club in the 2017–18 SLC ...
(born 1993), Sri Lankan cricketer
*
Sameera Saneesh
Sameera Saneesh (born 27 June 1983) is an Indian costume-cum-fashion designer from Kerala, known for her extensive work in Malayalam-language films.Sathyendran, Nita. (11 October 2011). In vogue in Mollywood. ''The Hindu''. Retrieved from http: ...
, Indian costume designer in Malayalam film
Fictional characters
* Samira, The Desert Rose, a playable champion character in the MOBA video game ''
League of Legends
''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by '' Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', ...
''
*
Samirah al-Abbas, a character in
Rick Riordan
Richard Russell Riordan Junior (; born June 5, 1964) is an American author, best known for writing the ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million co ...
's novel ''
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
''Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels written by American author Rick Riordan with the subject of Norse mythology and published by Disney- Hyperion. It is based on Norse mythology and is set in the same unive ...
''
See also
*
Sameera (disambiguation)
*
Samara
*
Samir, masculine form of the name
References
{{given name
Arabic feminine given names
Iranian feminine given names
Bosnian feminine given names
Indian masculine given names
Indian feminine given names