Selmer
A Scandinavian name thought to be derived from the Old Norse elements "salr" (hall) and "merki" (sign, mark).
Name Census estimates that about 67 living Americans carry the first name Selmer. It is a predominantly male name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Selmer today is around 90 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Selmer births was 1916 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Selmer. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Selmer is about 90 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Selmers were born before 1946.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Selmer. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
67
~ 1 in 5,115,736 Americans
Peak year
1916
43 babies that year
Average age
90
years old
1950 SSA rank
#4,122
Tracked since 1887
Census
Selmer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 147 people with the first name Selmer, which placed it at #45,869 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
#45,869
National first-name rank
People counted
147
147 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Selmer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Selmer is White at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Selmer 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 Selmer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.9% · 116
- Black or African American8.8% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 7
- Two or more races3.4% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Selmer
Selmer leans heavily male at 98.7% of total registrations, but 10 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Selmer as a male name
- Ranked #4,122 in 1950
- 5 male births in 1950
- Peak: 1916 (43 births)
Selmer as a female name
- Ranked #5,668 in 1925
- 5 female births in 1925
- Peak: 1917 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Selmer leans strongly male. 132 people counted with this name were male (94.3%), compared with 8 female bearers (5.7%).
Popularity
Selmer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Selmer from the 1880s through to the 1950s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 262 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Selmer 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 Selmer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Selmers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Selmer, while Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 48 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Selmer
The name Selmer is of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Old Norse words "sel" meaning "seal" and "mer" meaning "more" or "great." It is believed to have emerged as a name in the Viking Age, around the 8th to 11th centuries AD, when the Norse people inhabited regions of modern-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Selmer can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of historical and mythological tales that date back to the 13th century. In the Saga of Erik the Red, a character named Selmer is mentioned as a participant in one of the first Viking voyages to Greenland.
During the Middle Ages, the name Selmer was primarily used in Scandinavia, particularly in Denmark and Norway. It gained popularity among the noble classes and was associated with strength, bravery, and a connection to the sea.
The first notable historical figure with the name Selmer was Selmer Hvide (c. 1150-1219), a Danish nobleman and one of the most powerful men in Denmark during the reign of King Valdemar II. He played a significant role in the consolidation of Danish power and the conquest of parts of northern Germany.
Another prominent individual bearing the name was Selmer Pedersen (1537-1619), a Norwegian Lutheran clergyman and one of the first Protestant bishops in Norway. He was instrumental in the Reformation movement in Norway and the translation of the Bible into the Norwegian language.
In the 19th century, Selmer Solvyng (1827-1888), a Norwegian poet and writer, gained recognition for his poetic works and contributions to the Romantic Nationalism movement in Norway. His poems celebrated Norwegian culture, nature, and folklore.
Selmer Conton (1886-1946) was a Norwegian-American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the Selmer Company, a leading manufacturer of musical instruments, particularly saxophones and clarinets. The Selmer brand became renowned among professional musicians worldwide.
Lastly, Selmer Suvanto (1908-1983) was a Finnish long-distance runner who won the gold medal in the 10,000 meters event at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. His victory was a source of national pride for Finland and contributed to the country's sporting legacy.
People
Selmer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Selmer 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
Selmer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Selmer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 67 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Selmer 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 5,115,736 US residents.
Is Selmer a common name?
We classify Selmer as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 769 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Selmer most popular?
The single biggest year for Selmer was 1916, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Selmer is about 90 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Selmer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 147 people with the name Selmer, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,869 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 Selmer 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 Selmer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Selmer leans strongly male. 132 people counted with this name were male (94.3%), compared with 8 female bearers (5.7%). 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 Selmer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Selmer is White at 78.9%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Selmer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Selmer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.9% (116 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 Selmer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Selmer a male name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Selmer in the SSA data are male. 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 Selmer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Selmer 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 Selmer 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 many Americans are named Selmer?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.