Selah
A Hebrew name derived from the term "selah" meaning "pause" or "reflect".
Name Census estimates that about 13,810 living Americans carry the first name Selah. It sits at #280 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Selah today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Selah births was 2024 (1,143 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Selah. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Selah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Selah is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 194 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Selah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 24,819 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,143 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#280
Tracked since 1962
Census
Selah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,615 people with the first name Selah, which placed it at #2,723 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,723
National first-name rank
People counted
8.6K
8,615 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Selah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Selah is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.4%) and Black (11.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Selah described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Selah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.3% · 5,019
- Hispanic or Latino16.4% · 1,416
- Black or African American11.0% · 949
- Two or more races10.1% · 872
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 312
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 47
Gender
Gender distribution for Selah
Selah leans heavily female at 98.6% of total registrations, but 194 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Selah as a male name
- Ranked #4,837 in 2024
- 21 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (21 births)
Selah as a female name
- Ranked #280 in 2024
- 1,122 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,122 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Selah leans strongly female. 8,427 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 186 male bearers (2.2%).
Popularity
Selah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Selah from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6,245 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Selah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Selah by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Selah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Selahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Selah, while New Hampshire, Wyoming, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 263 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Selah
The name Selah has its roots in the Hebrew language, originating from biblical times. It is believed to be derived from the Hebrew word "selah," which appears frequently in the Psalms of the Old Testament. The word has multiple interpretations, including "pause" or "interlude," suggesting a moment of reflection or emphasis.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Selah can be found in the Book of Psalms, where it appears as a word or notation within the text. However, there is no definitive evidence of its use as a personal name during ancient times. The name's popularity as a given name seems to have emerged more recently, possibly influenced by its scriptural significance.
Throughout history, the name Selah has been borne by a few notable individuals. One of the earliest known was Selah Bartlett (1817-1855), an American educator and author from Massachusetts who wrote several textbooks on mathematics and arithmetic. Another notable figure was Selah Merrill (1837-1909), an American archaeologist and scholar who made significant contributions to the study of ancient Near Eastern civilizations.
In the 20th century, Selah Vick (1919-2020) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist who played a crucial role in the desegregation of public schools in Florida. Additionally, Selah Sue (born 1989) is a Belgian singer-songwriter known for her unique blend of soul, folk, and pop music, achieving commercial success with her album "Selah Sue" in 2011.
Another individual named Selah was Selah Lindh (1828-1921), a Swedish-American painter and illustrator who was active in the late 19th century. Her works often depicted scenes of everyday life and were displayed in various exhibitions across Sweden and the United States.
While not a comprehensive list, these individuals demonstrate the historical usage of the name Selah across different cultures and time periods, although its popularity as a given name appears to be relatively modern.
People
Selah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Selah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Selah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Selah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,810 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Selah going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 24,819 US residents.
Is Selah a common name?
We classify Selah as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,941 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Selah most popular?
The single biggest year for Selah was 2024, when 1,143 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Selah is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Selah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,615 people with the name Selah, or 2.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,723 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Selah in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Selah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Selah leans strongly female. 8,427 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 186 male bearers (2.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Selah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Selah is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.4%) and Black (11.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Selah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Selah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.3% (5,019 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Selah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Selah a female name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Selah in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Selah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Selah in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Selah can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Selah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Selah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.