Female name
Selma
419 births (England and Wales, 1996–2025), peaking in 2017. Expression number: 5.
Origin
Taken to use in the 19th century when similar-sounding names, Elma, Thelma, Alma, Wilma, etc. were in vogue. Perhaps a shortening of Anselma, or from the name of a place in the James Macpherson's Ossian cycle of epic poems, itself from Scottish Gaelic sealladh + math (“good vision”). In some cases perhaps borrowed from Turkish Selma, from Arabic سَلْمَى (salmā).From Wiktionary, entry “Selma”, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Do you know a Selma?
Send them the page about their name.
How many babies received it
From the official birth registers.
In England and Wales
Peak in 2017: 28 births. 419 births from 1996 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. It really came into use around 2005. It is still given: 68 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales, Open Government Licence v3.0.
In the United States
Peak in 1918: 811 births. 27,202 births from 1880 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. It is still given: 322 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Social Security Administration, Popular Baby Names, public domain.
Elsewhere in the world
The name in the birth records of the 10 countries we track. The period covered varies from country to country.
| Country | Births | Period | Best rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 12,515 | 1900–2025 | — |
| Switzerland | 2,135* | 1915–2025 | — |
| Austria | 511 | 1984–2025 | — |
| Berlin | 399 | 2012–2023 | — |
| Quebec | 336 | 1980–2025 | — |
| Belgium | 188 | 2014–2023 | — |
* These are the people living in the country, counted by year of birth, not the number of births.
Source: INSEE, Fichier des prénoms, Etalab Open Licence 2.0; Federal Statistical Office, First names of the population by year of birth, free use with attribution; Statistik Austria, Vornamen, CC BY 4.0; Open Data Berlin, Häufige Vornamen, CC BY 3.0 DE (every name a child carries, not only the first); Retraite Québec, Banque de prénoms, CC BY 4.0; Statbel, first names of newborns, CC BY 4.0 (one total for the whole period, no yearly breakdown).
The numbers of the name
Each letter has a value: A = 1, B = 2… I = 9, then J = 1 again (Pythagorean method). We add them up, then reduce to a single digit, except 11, 22 and 33.
■ vowel · ■ consonant
Expression
All the letters: talents, the way you act.
5
freedom, change, movement
1 + 5 + 3 + 4 + 1 = 14 → 5
Soul
The vowels: what drives you deep down.
6
responsibility, harmony, commitment to others
5 + 1 = 6
Personality
The consonants: what others notice first.
8
power, achievement, your relationship with money
1 + 3 + 4 = 8
- Digits missing from the name
- 2, 6, 7, 8, 9
- Most frequent digit
- 1 · initiative, independence, beginnings
The meaning of the numbers comes from numerological tradition; it isn't a measure of your personality. A full portrait needs your first and middle names, your last name at birth, and your date of birth. How we calculate
Your name and theirs
The number of each name, and the number of the bond, which comes from adding them together. A symbolic game: what your two names say together, to be read as a metaphor, not as a verdict on your relationship.