Selig

Boys' name

Variant of Zelig

Selig has been given to 154 babies in the U.S. since 1912. 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 1925, with 15 recorded.

Babies named Selig, 1938

1 in 443,000

Selig over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Selig: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Zelig

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Selig means

Selig is a variant of Zelig.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Selig is used in Yiddish (Rare).

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Selig → Zelig. The family’s meaning is “blessed, happy”, recorded in the naming reference for Zelig.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Zelig.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 154 boys were recorded with the name Selig between 1912 and 1938. Its highest annual count was 15 in 1925; its best national rank was #2,171 in 1925.

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.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Selig?

Selig had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1938, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1938: 1 in 443,000; 5 of 2,212,569 births
Among boys only: 1 in 222,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1938: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 306,728 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Selig sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1938 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 306,728 children born in 1938 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Selig. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Seligs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Selig was born before 1923 — so the typical Selig is around 102 today.

Median birth year: 1923; About 102 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 51.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 91.6%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 51.9% of all recorded uses (80).

Is Selig 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 1925 (15)
Years since peak: 100; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 28.6% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,171; 1925

Spellings of Selig

Selig is not the most common spelling — Eli is, with 60.0% against Selig's 0.06%.

Eli60.0%153,495
Felix32.6%83,508
Elio2.0%5,174
Elie1.2%3,015
Salim0.78%2,005
Selvin0.60%1,548
Elia0.42%1,075
Sylis0.41%1,043

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 Selig is used

Across 1910–2025, Selig was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 193,099 across all states with data.

11 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1New York1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Selig has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Selig by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,171; 1925
Peak year: 1925; 15 that year
First recorded: 1912
Last recorded: 1938
All-time count: 154
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Selig

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

Selah Selso Zelig Selby Selim Selma Selman Selassie Selasi Selden Selwyn Selena Selvin Seleem Selmer Seldon Selik Sellers Selton Selvyn Selestino Selmon Sellie Selven

Sibling names for Selig

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

Concepcion Easter Gene Rosina Kattie Lavon Blanch Jaunita

For a brother

Domenick Hosea Rollin Alvis Jewel Eldridge Lenard Merritt

Explore around Selig

Top names of 1925, Selig's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1925 Boys' names starting with S Yiddish Boy Names