Selah

What Selah means

Means “to hang”

Biblical Hebrew סֶלָה (selāh); according to some scholars, from סָלָה (salah, “to hang”, implying “to weigh”, “to measure”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Selah” (revision 87653577), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Selah?

US: Rising: up from #461 in 2015. England & Wales: New in the last 10 years.

Biggest US share so far: 2025, when 1,416 girls got the name (#216 that year). First in the US records in 1962.

How common

• About 1 in 1,135 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 21,107 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MT (3.54 per 1,000 girls), DC (2.97 per 1,000 girls), SD (2.95 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Selah is #216 in the US and #2278 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.1% of US babies named Selah were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Zylah137 US · 8 E&W
• Xylah67 US
• Solai46 US
• Sila37 US · 5 E&W
• Saylah37 US
• Seylah30 US
• Sela29 US
• Xela27 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Selah

Girls

• Lilah#179Editor’s note Up from #314 in 2015 to #179 in 2025 in the US
• Naomi#47“my pleasantness”^*
• Eden#70possibly “steppe, garden”^*
• Lilith#277Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #586 in 2015, #277 in 2025
• Eliana#10Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #102 in 2015, #10 in 2025. 6 letters, starting with a vowel
• Keziah#766Variant of Kezia, meaning “cassia tree”^*

For a brother

• Micah#90“who is like Yahweh”^*
• Hezekiah#485“Yahu is My Strength”^*
• Josiah#54Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #54 vs #226 in 2025
• Judah#178Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #178 vs #404 in 2025
• Asa#483“physician, doctor, healer”^*
• Asher#28Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #28 vs #150 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Selah’s. Rank is US 2025.