Selma
Selma is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 61 births. Its best rank was 163rd, in 1891.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 610.00% of girls
- Peak year
- 1918798 births
- Best rank
- #163in 1891
- Since 1880
- 26,820people given the name
The story in the numbers
26,820 girls have been named Selma in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1918, with 798 births.
The name has all but left use: 61 births in 2024, against 798 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1923, and the 1920s alone account for 25%. It has spent 77 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Selma | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 808 | |
| 1890s | 2,067 | |
| 1900s | 2,396 | |
| 1910s | 5,768 | |
| 1920s | 6,771 | |
| 1930s | 2,880 | |
| 1940s | 1,332 | |
| 1950s | 1,061 | |
| 1960s | 681 | |
| 1970s | 252 | |
| 1980s | 225 | |
| 1990s | 398 | |
| 2000s | 956 | |
| 2010s | 882 | |
| 2020s | 343 |
In 1918, its biggest year
Selma was the 223rd most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1918 were Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1918.
Names that rose and fell with Selma
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Elsiepeak 1918
- Ednapeak 1918
- Almapeak 1918
- Oleviapeak 1921
- Elmapeak 1918
- Elvapeak 1918
- Agnespeak 1918
- Beulahpeak 1916
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.