Amanda is a Latin feminine gerundive (i.e. verbal adjective) name meaning "she who must (or is fit to) be loved". It is common in countries where Germanic and Romance languages are spoken. Other translations, with similar meaning, could be "deserving to be loved," "worthy of love," or "loved very much by everyone." Diminutive forms include Mandy and Manda, among others. Amy is also an English diminutive of Amanda as well as other (unrelated) given names.
Amanda comes from ama- (the stem of the Latin verb amare, "to love") plus the feminine nominative singular gerundive ending (-nda). Other names, especially female names, were derived from this verb form, such as Miranda.
The name occasionally appears in late antiquity, such as the Amanda who was the "wife of the ex-advocate and ex-provincial governor Aper (q.v.); she cared for his estates and raised their children after he adopted the monastic life: 'curat illa saeculi curas, ne tu cures (Paul. Nol. Epist. 44.4).
In England the name Amanda first appeared in 1212 on a birth record from Warwickshire, England, and five centuries later the name was popularized by poets and playwrights. In the United States, Amanda slowly became more prominent from the 1930s to the 1960s, ranking among the top 200 baby names.