Selia
Feminine
Selia writes a Roman name with an s where English writes a c. The name is best known from a play in which its bearer is the loyal cousin, does most of the actual sacrificing, and gets rather less attention than the heroine.
How old is the name Selia?
Selia first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Selia alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 600 people named Selia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Selia most popular?
Selia peaked in 1945, reaching #2149 nationally. See the whole 1945 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Selia
In As You Like It, Celia is the duke's daughter and Rosalind is the exile, and when Rosalind is banished Celia gives up her inheritance and her father and goes with her, in disguise, into a forest with no plan. She is the one who proposes it. Rosalind then gets the disguise plot, the wit, the epilogue and four hundred years of critical attention, and Celia stands beside her being dry about it. Directors who take the part seriously find a great deal in it, because the play keeps giving her short, exact lines that puncture whatever Rosalind has just said at length.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Celia comes from a Roman family name and that line is documented. Whether this spelling is a respelling, a Spanish form, or cut from a longer name is not recorded.
Pronouncing Selia
SEE-lee-uh
Three syllables with the stress in front. SEL-ee-uh is also heard and the spelling does not decide.
Nicknames for Selia
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1918
- Most girls named
- 200420 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2149reached in 1945
- Change vs 2022
- −33.3%8 in 2024, from 12
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Selia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Celia in Spanish — same name
- Celia in Italian — same name
Selias among us
people named Selia are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Selia sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Lia comes off the back of it as a short form and is established in its own right.
- It is soft throughout with no difficult consonant in it.
- It works in English and Spanish-speaking households alike.
- Celia is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected to it regularly.
- Two readings of the first vowel are in circulation and the spelling settles neither.
- No origin is documented for this form, so the meaning question belongs to the standard spelling.
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Selia
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Selias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Selia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Selia in 2025?
- Selia is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Selia with classmates?
- Selia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Selia? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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