The baby name Selah combines the traditional simplicity of Sarah with a meaning as rich as Harmony or Promise.
Thanks to Christine for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME SELAH MEAN?
It’s tempting to refer to the baby name Selah as an Old Testament name.
Except that’s only partially correct.
In the Old Testament Book of Psalms, the word selah appears. It indicates a pause. That makes this more akin to musical names like Cadence than traditional favorites like Naomi or Esther.
And yet, Selah sounds like a name.
Pause can also mean rest, and that feels like a powerful meaning. It’s not exactly a virtue, but it suggests desirable qualities, like patience and calm.
Or at least that’s the way that we hear it today.
There’s also the place name Sela in the Old Testament, a city stretching from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.
Because Sela means rock, it was also sometimes referred to as Petra, the Latin translation. Worth noting: Kveller lists Selah as a feminine name meaning rock, with Sela as an alternate spelling.
That puts Sela and Selah in the company of other Biblical place names like Jericho and Shiloh.
FAMOUS FIGURES NAMED SELAH
Henry James used Selah for the name of a character in his 1886 novel The Bostonians.
Actress Sela Ward played Teddy Reed on Sisters during the 1990s. The NBC drama earned Ward a Primetime Emmy. She went on to appear on series Once and Again, as well as House, CSI: NY, and FBI.
In 1998, musician Lauryn Hill and former football player Rohan Marley welcomed a daughter named Selah. Rohan is the son of reggae legend Bob Marley. That makes Selah music royalty on both sides. In 2011, she also launched a modeling career.
Both Sela and Selah started to rise in the early 1990s, just as Ward’s career flourished.
Now factor in two songs.
For 2002’s Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Hill contributed a soundtrack song called “Selah,” named after her daughter.
She explains the name’s meaning in the lyrics:
And then he came, Selah
And it means praise and meditation
And then he came, Selah
And it means did you think about that
In 2019, Kanye West released a song by the same name. His “Selah” is openly and expressly religious … and also appeared in the trailer for Fast & Furious 9. As West has descended into controversy, his lyrics seem less likely to inspire a baby’s name.
But West’s reasons for choosing the song title reinforce the name’s appeal.
SELAH AS A PURPOSE NAME
In some settings, “selah” substitutes for “amen,” a word spoken as spiritual affirmation.
It hovers on the edges of pop culture, from the letters of Hunter S. Thompson to reggae songs.
In some sense, the meaning was just waiting for discovery. But it seems like we’ve expanded and added to the word across the years.
It makes the name Selah a purpose name.
That’s not quite a virtue, like old school Grace.
Instead, it’s closer to Chosen or Creed. The name signals belief in something higher, but preserves a degree of ambiguity. Selah and company could be expressly religious, even Christian. But they might also be chosen for sound, style, and that hint that Selah is bigger than just those five letters imply.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME SELAH?
A handful of women, and even a few men, were named Sela during the 1800s and 1900s. That’s also true for Selah, but in smaller numbers.
That starts to change late in the 20th century.
In 1990, just seven girls were named Sela. By 1995, that number grew to 31. Since then, Sela has faded, never even breaking into the US Top 1000.
As for Selah, the name was given to 11 girls in 1990, and 40 by 1995.
In 2005, Selah entered the US Top 1000 at #944. It has gained steadily since then, reaching an all-time high of #216 in 2025.
SLEEK and STYLISH
Even without the meaning attached, the baby name Selah might have succeeded on sound.
This is the age of Lyla and Mia, Isla and Sophie. Liquid, flowing sounds, heavy on vowels and short on consonants, define many of the most popular choices for our children today. Short and nickname-proof helps, too. With names like Sienna, Solana, and Sylvie on the rise, Selah just makes sense.
Thanks to a slow, steady climb in popularity, a deep meaning, and a resemblance to traditional favorites like Sarah, the baby name Selah feels both well-established and fresh at the same time.
What do you think of the baby name Selah?
First published on January 16, 2013, this post was revised and re-published on April 27, 2022 and again on October 19, 2026.
I would like to ask you, if you would pronounce the name Seila as see-la or somehow else?
Hmmm … I think I might see it more like Kyla/Lila/Lyla, with a long ‘i’ sound, as in right, light, and kite.
But I wouldn’t be surprised to meet a Seila who says her name with a long ‘ee’ like Selah. Which do you prefer?
Thank you for the answer! I am from Hungary and my mother would like to give me the name Sheila, but the name Sheila can not be given here (annoying), so they say my name as Sheila.
But from these options maybe I would prefer the long ‘ee’ sound.
My name is Sela! For the record, I very much hate having my name confused with Selah. Not the same, not at all, not related, nope. As you said, Sela means rock or crag in Hebrew, is the Hebrew version of Petra, and the original name of the archaeological site in Jordan called Petra. I pronounce my name See-luh, I was born in 1992, and no, I was not named after Sela Ward. My parents heard about her only after I was born. I have never met another person with my name, and I like it that way 😉 I am constantly having to spell and pronounce it, and getting called the wrong name, but that has just made my relationship with my name all the more strong. It does get really annoying when people try to tell me my parents just left the h off the end.
For the record, “Sela” is also found in the Bible, referring to the city. It is also used in one important verse in the New Testament when Jesus is talking to Peter (because they mean the same), which is nice. Everybody I meet seems to love my name, and all in all, it’s pretty great.
I have a brother named Judah Matthew, and a sister named Grace Salome, so obviously, my parents really like the obscure Biblical theme thing, but so do my grandparents/great-grandparents, etc, because I have an aunt named Exa, an uncle named Titus, and several great-grandmothers and on that are named Salome.
I love, love Selah! I’m a huge fan of the Christian group, I’m familiar with it in the Psalms, and our friend’s daughter is named Selah (also Evangelical Christian), pronounced SAY-lah….I’ve never heard it pronounced See-lah but the spelling Sela would make more sense for that pronunciation.
There’s a town in Washington named Selah, though we pronounce it “see-lah” which often gets mixed up with another town named Zillah.
ooooh, i love this name. it’s so soft and delicate to me.
I know 3 little Selah’s. All of the Evangelical Christian faith.
There is also the (very) popular Christian music group Selah:
https://selahonline.com/
One of the men (Todd Smith) is the husband of a prominent Christian blogger and author, Angie Smith.
Oh–and most say it isn’t a pause, but a rest. 🙂
Thanks, Sharalyn! I completely missed the band … it probably helps explain how some families first heard the name.
There was a Sela at Maria’s daycare last year. Her siblings are Si3rra and S3bastien, so Sela was a bit of a surprise.
It really does feel like an updated Sarah, I’m confused to why it hasn’t taken off.
When I was in college, an orthodox jewish friend explained that selah meant, basically, “right on, God!” I’ve always thought it would make a beautiful name based on that meaning, heh.
Like Beth indicated earlier, I have heard that Selah is usually pronounced “Say-la” and Sela prounounced “See-la”. Either way, I love the meaning and love that it is from the Bible. Selah is also the name of a Christian band.
My almost one year old is named Selah (pronounced like cayla with an s). We love the somewhat uniqueness of it!
But, as for the nickname proof-ness of it, we have the nicknames Lala and lolly (bit of a stretch with lolly, I know).