Name Trends

See the popularity of first names over time in the USA

How popular is “Selma” in the USA?

Number of people named “Selma” by birth year

This chart shows how many people named “Selma” were born each year.

Due to changes to population growth and data collection rates over time, this isn't a good chart for understanding popularity.

Popularity of “Selma” by birth year

This chart shows how the popularity of “Selma” has changed over time.

Popularity is the number of people named “Selma” born in that year divided by the total number of births for that year.

Bias in sex for “Selma” by birth year

This chart shows how “Selma” has been used as gendered name over time. The scale ranges from 1 (only females) to -1 (only males).

Sex is a required field in SSA's Social Security Card applications (only 2 options). Most applications are filed around a person's time of birth.

The raw data

This table shows the data used in the above charts.

Year Count Proportion Females Males Bias toward female
1880 36 0.000178674 36 100%
1881 47 0.000243918 47 100%
1882 54 0.000243756 54 100%
1883 80 0.000368755 80 100%
1884 63 0.000258768 63 100%
1885 68 0.000282329 68 100%
1886 91 0.000356421 91 100%
1887 97 0.00039209 97 100%
1888 139 0.000464147 139 100%
1889 133 0.000460294 133 100%
1890 165 0.000547443 165 100%
1891 206 0.000718589 206 100%
1892 209 0.000625049 209 100%
1893 211 0.000648786 211 100%
1894 212 0.000625941 212 100%
1895 208 0.000592559 208 100%
1896 238 0.000665764 238 100%
1897 183 0.000527443 183 100%
1898 229 0.000600333 229 100%
1899 206 0.00060725 206 100%
1900 239 0.000530807 239 100%
1901 242 0.000699802 242 100%
1902 252 0.000651612 252 100%
1903 218 0.000571878 218 100%
1904 231 0.000572512 231 100%
1905 224 0.000528399 224 100%
1906 252 0.000588165 252 100%
1907 231 0.000496358 231 100%
1908 262 0.000536172 257 5 96%
1909 256 0.000500759 250 6 95%
1910 299 0.00050617 293 6 96%
1911 327 0.000507545 321 6 96%
1912 393 0.000397748 387 6 97%
1913 460 0.000404534 455 5 98%
1914 601 0.000424332 587 14 95%
1915 753 0.000410931 741 12 97%
1916 728 0.000376341 718 10 97%
1917 795 0.000396163 786 9 98%
1918 811 0.000373541 798 13 97%
1919 696 0.00032982 682 14 96%
1920 768 0.000339426 768 100%
1921 713 0.000305418 704 9 97%
1922 701 0.000306226 692 9 97%
1923 711 0.000308797 703 8 98%
1924 742 0.000311554 735 7 98%
1925 678 0.000290575 668 10 97%
1926 680 0.000296179 671 9 97%
1927 680 0.000293185 669 11 97%
1928 609 0.000269357 598 11 96%
1929 569 0.000259561 563 6 98%
1930 559 0.000251429 550 9 97%
1931 432 0.000205285 420 12 94%
1932 336 0.000159144 326 10 94%
1933 301 0.000150542 296 5 97%
1934 264 0.000127118 264 100%
1935 220 0.000105268 212 8 93%
1936 250 0.000120332 243 7 94%
1937 231 0.000108417 225 6 95%
1938 194 0.000087681 188 6 94%
1939 163 0.000073975 156 7 91%
1940 156 0.000067747 150 6 92%
1941 149 0.000061155 144 5 93%
1942 159 0.000058203 159 100%
1943 122 0.000043223 122 100%
1944 134 0.000049813 128 6 91%
1945 111 0.000041841 102 9 84%
1946 143 0.000044753 138 5 93%
1947 140 0.000038864 140 100%
1948 135 0.000039102 129 6 91%
1949 120 0.000034435 120 100%
1950 102 0.000029115 102 100%
1951 126 0.000034204 121 5 92%
1952 107 0.000028173 102 5 91%
1953 118 0.00003062 118 100%
1954 112 0.000028136 104 8 86%
1955 113 0.000028144 113 100%
1956 115 0.000027892 115 100%
1957 105 0.000024987 105 100%
1958 95 0.000022981 90 5 89%
1959 91 0.000021886 91 100%
1960 93 0.000022389 93 100%
1961 121 0.000029211 116 5 92%
1962 89 0.000022055 89 100%
1963 66 0.000016674 66 100%
1964 63 0.000016205 63 100%
1965 91 0.0000251 91 100%
1966 54 0.000015537 54 100%
1967 40 0.000011782 40 100%
1968 34 0.000010064 34 100%
1969 35 0.000010071 35 100%
1970 40 0.000011091 40 100%
1971 37 0.00001078 37 100%
1972 23 0.000007318 23 100%
1973 26 0.000008618 26 100%
1974 17 0.000005592 17 100%
1975 22 0.000007286 22 100%
1976 20 0.000006591 20 100%
1977 26 0.000008185 26 100%
1978 22 0.000006932 22 100%
1979 19 0.000005711 19 100%
1980 25 0.000007258 25 100%
1981 28 0.000008094 28 100%
1982 27 0.000007697 27 100%
1983 19 0.000005486 19 100%
1984 19 0.000005446 19 100%
1985 11 0.000003082 11 100%
1986 27 0.00000759 27 100%
1987 19 0.00000527 19 100%
1988 26 0.000007036 26 100%
1989 24 0.000006243 24 100%
1990 35 0.000008855 35 100%
1991 30 0.000007702 30 100%
1992 32 0.000008331 32 100%
1993 17 0.000004509 17 100%
1994 22 0.000005918 22 100%
1995 32 0.000008738 32 100%
1996 42 0.000011516 42 100%
1997 54 0.000014893 54 100%
1998 64 0.0000174 64 100%
1999 70 0.00001895 70 100%
2000 81 0.000021429 81 100%
2001 90 0.000024042 90 100%
2002 74 0.000019795 74 100%
2003 96 0.000025248 96 100%
2004 118 0.000030883 118 100%
2005 117 0.00003043 117 100%
2006 103 0.000026035 103 100%
2007 100 0.000025014 100 100%
2008 90 0.000022897 90 100%
2009 87 0.000022774 87 100%
2010 86 0.00002327 86 100%
2011 96 0.000026245 96 100%
2012 72 0.000019686 72 100%
2013 82 0.000022492 82 100%
2014 109 0.000029409 109 100%
2015 88 0.000023778 88 100%
2016 95 0.000025895 95 100%
2017 88 0.000024607 88 100%
2018 79 0.000022469 79 100%
2019 87 0.000025065 87 100%
2020 82 0.000024547 82 100%
2021 63 0.000018595 63 100%
2022 63 0.000018622 63 100%
2023 74 0.000022348 74 100%
2024 61 0.000018327 61 100%

Explore other names

These names are alphabetically near to Selma:

  1. Seliyah
  2. Sella
  3. Selleck
  4. Sellers
  5. Sellie
  6. Selma (this page)
  7. Selman
  8. Selmer
  9. Selmon
  10. Selphie
  11. Selso