Selma

Primarily a girl's name · 99% girls

Meaning

Selma is a feminine name of ambiguous origin. It could be a form of Selima, which in turn is a name first recorded in a poem by Thomas Gray. One possibility is that Selima was influenced by the Arabic name Selim meaning "peaceful".

From Wikipedia

Selma first appears in the data in 1880 and has been recorded in 145 different years as a girl's name. Its single biggest year was 1918 with 798 babies (rank #223 that year). In 2024 it was given to 61 girls (rank #2,788). The name has been declining over the last five years.

Numerology of Selma

In Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Selma yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.

5Destiny numberThe free spiritCurious, restless, energised by change.Sum of every letter. The overall character a name carries.
6Soul urgeThe carerNurturing, responsible, family at the centre.Sum of the vowels — what's said to drive the heart.
8PersonalityThe achieverDriven, capable, comfortable wielding influence.Sum of the consonants — the outer impression.

27,141

Total babies (all years)

145

Years in the data

798

Peak in a single year

Popularity Over Time — Girls

Famous people named Selma

Selma Lagerlöfautobiographer · b. 1858
Selma Blairfilm actor · b. 1972
Selma Rızanovelist · b. 1872
Selma Ergeçfilm actor · b. 1978
Selma Björnsdóttirchoreographer · b. 1974

Share your Selma story

Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.

More popular girls' names

Names ranked near Selma in 2024

Other girls' names starting with S

Year-by-Year Detail

Rank is among all girls' names registered that year.

Year	Babies	Rank
1880	36	#259
1881	47	#230
1882	54	#237
1883	80	#189
1884	63	#243
1885	68	#245
1886	91	#209
1887	97	#209
1888	139	#190
1889	133	#201
1890	165	#183
1891	206	#163
1892	209	#175
1893	211	#176
1894	212	#183
1895	208	#188
1896	238	#178
1897	183	#205
1898	229	#193
1899	206	#193
1900	239	#201
1901	242	#181
1902	252	#183
1903	218	#194
1904	231	#194
1905	224	#202
1906	252	#193
1907	231	#218
1908	257	#210
1909	250	#225
1910	293	#221
1911	321	#223
1912	387	#230
1913	455	#226
1914	587	#214
1915	741	#217
1916	718	#228
1917	786	#216
1918	798	#223
1919	682	#244
1920	768	#233
1921	704	#251
1922	692	#246
1923	703	#245
1924	735	#246
1925	668	#257
1926	671	#254
1927	669	#253
1928	598	#264
1929	563	#269
1930	550	#273
1931	420	#313
1932	326	#354
1933	296	#371
1934	264	#401
1935	212	#444
1936	243	#414
1937	225	#438
1938	188	#487
1939	156	#534
1940	150	#567
1941	144	#583
1942	159	#589
1943	122	#688
1944	128	#658
1945	102	#740
1946	138	#679
1947	140	#720
1948	129	#752
1949	120	#789
1950	102	#883
1951	121	#816
1952	102	#919
1953	118	#866
1954	104	#951
1955	113	#927
1956	115	#942
1957	105	#1,025
1958	90	#1,117
1959	91	#1,125
1960	93	#1,130
1961	116	#1,010
1962	89	#1,165
1963	66	#1,369
1964	63	#1,431
1965	91	#1,107
1966	54	#1,527
1967	40	#1,877
1968	34	#2,083
1969	35	#2,164
1970	40	#2,073
1971	37	#2,207
1972	23	#2,962
1973	26	#2,731
1974	17	#3,828
1975	22	#3,234
1976	20	#3,505
1977	26	#3,059
1978	22	#3,483
1979	19	#4,011
1980	25	#3,395
1981	28	#3,131
1982	27	#3,238
1983	19	#4,083
1984	19	#4,137
1985	11	#6,365
1986	27	#3,340
1987	19	#4,440
1988	26	#3,668
1989	24	#4,102
1990	35	#3,211
1991	30	#3,618
1992	32	#3,480
1993	17	#5,633
1994	22	#4,661
1995	32	#3,480
1996	42	#2,889
1997	54	#2,445
1998	64	#2,236
1999	70	#2,178
2000	81	#2,049
2001	90	#1,937
2002	74	#2,248
2003	96	#1,911
2004	118	#1,653
2005	117	#1,702
2006	103	#1,955
2007	100	#2,054
2008	90	#2,216
2009	87	#2,266
2010	86	#2,251
2011	96	#2,040
2012	72	#2,540
2013	82	#2,277
2014	109	#1,865
2015	88	#2,165
2016	95	#2,081
2017	88	#2,178
2018	79	#2,325
2019	87	#2,151
2020	82	#2,213
2021	63	#2,745
2022	63	#2,747
2023	74	#2,436
2024	61	#2,788