Selam
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "peace" or "well-being".
Name Census estimates that about 201 living Americans carry the first name Selam. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Selam today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Selam births was 1998 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Selam. 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 Selam with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
201
~ 1 in 1,705,245 Americans
Peak year
1998
11 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,234
Tracked since 1988
Census
Selam in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,106 people with the first name Selam, which placed it at #11,542 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
#11,542
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,106 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
94.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Selam
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Selam is Black at 94.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Two or More Races (1.3%). 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 Selam 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 Selam at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American94.2% · 1,042
- White2.7% · 30
- Two or more races1.3% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Selam: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Selam from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 67 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Selam 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 Selam during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Selam
The name Selam is believed to have originated from the Amharic language of Ethiopia. Amharic is a Semitic language that is the official language of Ethiopia and is also spoken in parts of Eritrea and Israel.
Selam is derived from the Amharic word "selam" which means peace, harmony, or greeting. The name is often given with the intention of wishing peace and tranquility upon the child. It is a unisex name, used for both boys and girls in the Ethiopian culture.
The earliest known record of the name Selam dates back to the 14th century in the Kebre Negest, which is an ancient text that details the history of the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia. The text mentions a figure named Selam, though it is unclear if this was a given name or a title.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Selam was Selam Aregawi, an Ethiopian noble and military leader who lived in the late 16th century. He played a significant role in the conflict between the Ethiopian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
Another notable figure was Selam Awassa, an Ethiopian military commander who lived in the early 19th century. He was a prominent figure in the wars between the Ethiopian Empire and the Kingdom of Shewa.
In more recent history, Selam Mussere was an Ethiopian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 1993. She was also the first woman to hold this position in Ethiopia.
Selam Gebru is an Ethiopian-American computer scientist and researcher in the field of artificial intelligence. She is known for her work on algorithmic bias and ethical AI, and has been recognized for her contributions to the field.
Selam Teshome is an Ethiopian entrepreneur and businesswoman who founded the successful company Selam Foods, which produces and distributes traditional Ethiopian food products. She is recognized as a pioneer in the Ethiopian food industry.
While the name Selam has its roots in the Amharic language and Ethiopian culture, it has gained popularity in other parts of the world due to its peaceful and harmonious meaning. However, its historical and cultural significance remains deeply rooted in the rich heritage of Ethiopia.
People
Selam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Selam 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
Selam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Selam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 201 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Selam 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 1,705,245 US residents.
Is Selam a common name?
We classify Selam as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 205 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Selam most popular?
The single biggest year for Selam was 1998, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Selam is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Selam in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,106 people with the name Selam, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,542 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 Selam 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 Selam?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Selam leans strongly female. 1,022 people counted with this name were female (92.7%), compared with 81 male bearers (7.3%). 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 Selam?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Selam is Black at 94.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.7%) and Two or More Races (1.3%). 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 Selam most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Selam in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.2% (1,042 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 Selam in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Selam a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Selam 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 Selam still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Selam 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 Selam 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 people are named Selam?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.