Anselma

Girls' name

God, through Anselm

Anselma has been given to 189 babies in the U.S. since 1916. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1924, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Anselma, 1999

1 in 738,000

Anselma over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Anselma: meaning, origin, and history

God, through Anselm

Spanish

What Anselma means

Anselma belongs to the name family reached through Anselma → Anselm. Its meaning is “god”.

Origin, language, and formation

Anselma is used in English and Cebuano. Its origins include Spanish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Anselm.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 189 girls were recorded with the name Anselma between 1916 and 1999. Its highest annual count was 14 in 1924; its best national rank was #2,518 in 1924.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Anselma?

Anselma had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1999, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1999: 1 in 738,000; 5 of 3,692,373 births
Among girls only: 1 in 355,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1999: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 511,873 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Anselma sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1999 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 511,873 children born in 1999 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Anselma. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Anselmas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Anselma was born before 1928 — so the typical Anselma is around 97 today.

Median birth year: 1928; About 97 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 36.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 7.9%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 31; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 36.5% of all recorded uses (69).

Is Anselma rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1924 (14)
Years since peak: 101; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 19.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,518; 1924

Spellings of Anselma

Anselma is not the most common spelling — Angela is, with 91.8% against Anselma's 0.03%.

Angela91.8%673,257
Selma3.7%26,881
Angelia3.1%22,466
Angella0.49%3,581
Anela0.24%1,793
Nelma0.17%1,229
Aniela0.15%1,081
Angelea0.14%1,017

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Anselma is used

Across 1910–2025, Anselma was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 211,740 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Anselma has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Anselma by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,518; 1924
Peak year: 1924; 14 that year
First recorded: 1916
Last recorded: 1999
All-time count: 189
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Anselma

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Anshika Anshi Anslie Anslee Ansleigh Anshu Telma Anslei Adelma Anslea Ansonia Welma Talma Anshita Shelma Gilma Ilma Roselma Felma Willma Dalma Ansha Valma Zalma

Sibling names for Anselma

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Rosina Kattie Lavon Blanch Jaunita Vernell Dorris Leonora

For a brother

Eldridge Merritt Lacy Delmer Wilton Elwin Domenick Hosea

Explore around Anselma

Top names of 1924, Anselma's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1924 Girls' names starting with A