Selima
Selima is a name with a single cultural origin: Arabic.
- Arabic
Meaning & Origin of Selima
What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures.
Selima is a name with a single cultural origin: Arabic.
Origin data from Behind the Name .
Cultural Origins (via Behind the Name)
- Arabic
The Story of Selima
Selima first appeared in U.S. Social Security Administration records as a baby girl name in 1974, with 5 babies given the name that year. The name hit its high-water mark in 1977: 7 births, good for #7,567 nationwide. About 48% of every Selima on record arrived during the 1970s, its defining decade. Selima last appeared in the published SSA data in 2016, with 5 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 50 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 1970s to the 2020s.
Popularity Over Time
Popularity by State
Variants & Related Forms of Selima
Foreign forms, alternate spellings, and nicknames that share roots with Selima. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.
Names that sound like Selima
Phonetically similar names — useful when Selima is the vibe but a different syllable count or letter feel might suit better. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.
Source: Datamuse . Phonetic similarity ranking, not curated.
Frequently Asked Questions about Selima
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About the name Selima
Selima is a girl baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 1974 and has accumulated 50 births in the dataset. Selima's peak popularity came in 1977 when it ranked #7,567. Use the chart and map above to compare Selima's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices.
Continue exploring
- Top names of 1977 →
- Names of the 1970s →
- Names starting with "S" →
- Browse all girl names →
- Top names of 2026 →
Data sources
- Birth statistics (counts, ranks, years 1880–2026) — U.S. Social Security Administration . Predictions for years not yet released by SSA are computed by Peek a Name from historical trends; we update with official data as soon as it ships.
- Etymology, cultural origins, and related forms — Behind the Name (used under their public API terms).
- Meaning prose and editorial summary — Wikipedia article extracts, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 .
- Predicted nationality distribution — Nationalize.io .
- Phonetically similar names — Datamuse .
Peek a Name aggregates and presents the above data for informational purposes. Statistical predictions and external attributions are clearly labelled where shown; we make no guarantee of accuracy beyond what each source provides.