[jQuery] xml find element with this attribute value

hello all.
i've been reading a lot and still does not find any solution to my
query. please find the details below.
<list>
<sample name="a" id="1"/>
<sample name="b" id="2"/>
</list>
in jquery how can i automatically find the element sample with
attribute name equals to a without looping entirely the xml
hope to find solution
thanks.
akel