Head to head · Girls' names
Sara vs Selah
#198 vs #216 in 2025
Sara is a whisker ahead (#198 vs #216 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Sara is holding its place on the charts, Selah is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Selah has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Sara leads 5 measures of 6; Selah leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Sara #120, Selah — — Sara higher
- 1890s: Sara #140, Selah — — Sara higher
- 1900s: Sara #143, Selah — — Sara higher
- 1910s: Sara #114, Selah — — Sara higher
- 1920s: Sara #124, Selah — — Sara higher
- 1930s: Sara #128, Selah — — Sara higher
- 1940s: Sara #134, Selah — — Sara higher
- 1950s: Sara #168, Selah — — Sara higher
- 1960s: Sara #161, Selah #6332 — Sara higher
- 1970s: Sara #66, Selah #7005 — Sara higher
- 1980s: Sara #29, Selah #6840 — Sara higher
- 1990s: Sara #44, Selah #4174 — Sara higher
- 2000s: Sara #73, Selah #1082 — Sara higher
- 2010s: Sara #151, Selah #507 — Sara higher
- 2020s: Sara #188, Selah #326 — Sara higher
Sara stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Sara | Selah |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #120 | — |
| 1890s | #140 | — |
| 1900s | #143 | — |
| 1910s | #114 | — |
| 1920s | #124 | — |
| 1930s | #128 | — |
| 1940s | #134 | — |
| 1950s | #168 | — |
| 1960s | #161 | #6332 |
| 1970s | #66 | #7005 |
| 1980s | #29 | #6840 |
| 1990s | #44 | #4174 |
| 2000s | #73 | #1082 |
| 2010s | #151 | #507 |
| 2020s | #188 | #326 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Sara
- England & Wales#97
Selah
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Sara
Princess, noblewoman
The Hebrew is the feminine of a word for a ruler or chief, and the text itself makes a point of the change from an earlier form of the name at the moment God promises her a son. The reading is not in dispute, which is unusual for a name this old, and neither spelling alters it.
Sarai → Sarah → Sara
How it traveled
She is the only woman in the Bible whose age at death is recorded. A hundred and twenty-seven years, the text says, and then a whole chapter about her husband buying a field with a cave in it to bury her, negotiating in public with the local landowners and insisting on paying full price so that nobody could later say the ground was a gift.
Selah
a Hebrew liturgical term from the Psalms; the sense is genuinely unsettled
Three readings compete among Hebrew scholars: a musical or performance direction — a pause, rest or interlude; a form of the root meaning 'to lift up', that is, to raise the voice or the instruments; and 'forever', which is how the Aramaic Targum rendered it. A separate Hebrew word, sela, means 'rock' or 'crag', and English speakers often associate the two, though they are spelled differently in Hebrew.
סֶלָה (selah), Hebrew Psalms → Selah, retained untranslated in English Bibles → Selah, given name
How it traveled
Selah appears seventy-one times in the Book of Psalms and three times in Habakkuk, always as a standalone term rather than part of a sentence. The Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible tried to render it; the English translators behind the King James Version gave up and printed it as it was, which is why the word survives intact in English at all.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Sara
SAIR-uh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Most of Europe says SAH-rah with a fuller first vowel, and that pronunciation is common in the United States too; both are current and the spelling supports either.
- Sadie — An old English pet form that came by way of an intermediate shape and now stands alone.
- Sassy — Built from the first consonant; affectionate and family-given.
- Sari — The Finnish and Hungarian short form, and a complete name in both.
Selah
SEE-lah
SEE-lah is the usual American reading. SAY-lah is also widely heard, and in Hebrew the stress falls on the second syllable, se-LAH. Because all three are defensible, expect to state your preference more than once.
- Sela — Drops the final h; also used as a full given name in its own right.
- Sel — Informal, family-level shortening; rarely written down.
- Lala — A sound-based pet form used by younger siblings and small children.
Who has carried each name
Sara
Sara Bareilles (b. 1979) — "Brave" singer and composer of Broadway's Waitress
Sara Teasdale (b. 1884) — Pulitzer-winning poet
Selah
No documented entry for Selah yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Sara if you want…
- a name most people already know#198 in 2025, 1,568 babies that year
- a name holding steadySara is holding its place on the charts
- a name that charts abroad tooSara is on the national lists of England & Wales
- a long American recordSara was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Selah if you want…
- a name fewer children share#216 in 2025 — selah will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name on the way upup 209 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalSelah entered the US charts in 1962
- a name that feels very nowSelah is climbing the charts fast
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Sara
Strengths
- Spelled identically in Italian, Spanish, German, Polish and Arabic, and understood everywhere.
- Four letters, no silent ones, and nothing that can be misread once the vowel is settled.
- The name has been in continuous use for as long as there are records of names at all.
To consider
- Two live pronunciations in America, and families with a European connection may want the other one.
- The h spelling is commoner in English-speaking countries and will be added by strangers.
- The record carries this spelling for boys in small numbers, so it is not an absolute signal.
Selah
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, with no silent or unexpected letters, and short enough for a child to write early.
- Appears in the Psalms and stayed untranslated in English Bibles, so many readers recognize the word before they meet it as a name.
- A child named Selah is very unlikely to share the name with a classmate.
To consider
- SEE-lah and SAY-lah are both in real use, so the pronunciation will need correcting fairly often — a small, lifelong tax rather than a problem.
- The name is climbing steadily. It is rare now; by the time this child reaches school it may be noticeably less so.
- Anyone who knows the word knows it from scripture, and the name carries that association plainly. Some families want exactly that; others should know it comes attached.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Sara
25%chance Sara feels dated by 2040
Sara peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
Selah
57%chance Selah feels dated by 2040
Selah is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Sara and Selah in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Sara and Selah?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Short and sweet: names of four letters or fewer
- The steadiest names in America
- Names of the '80s and '90s, currently resting
- Millennial names (born 1981–1996)
- all guides
Where Sara and Selah each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Sara or Selah — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Sara or Selah?
- Sara, in 2025: Sara ranked #198 with 1,568 babies; Selah ranked #216 with 1,416 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Sara or Selah?
- Selah. Over the last five years Sara moved down 16 places; Selah moved up 209 places.
- Which is the older name, Sara or Selah?
- Sara was already in use when US records began in 1880; Selah entered the US charts in 1962. On the American record, Sara is the older name.
- How many people are named Sara and Selah?
- About 357,000 people named Sara are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 15,000 people named Selah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Saras or Selahs in the classroom?
- Sara will almost certainly be the only one in school. Selah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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