Definition of "Amanda"

O there is a sweet era in the life of man, when ( the brain being tender and fibrillous, and more like pap than anything else ) - a story read of two fond lovers, separated from each other by cruel parents, and by still more cruel destiny - Amandus - He Amanda - She - / each ignorant of the other's course.

1767 Laurence Sterne: Tristram Shandy: Book VII, Chapter 31

Sue always thought of her offspring as Amanda. Allowing her to name the child had been one of the last indulgences that Brian had seen fit to bestow. Even then he had not the generosity to conceal his displeasure at her choice. Pretentious. Snobbish. Affected. The baby had been 'Mandy' from the day of her birth and, once Brian had really got the hang of high-rise/comprehensive linguistic mores, 'Mand'.

1994, Caroline Graham, Written in Blood, page 35