# Salma (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/salma/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Arabic |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 10,316 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 5 / 10,311 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 2,715, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic سَلْمَى (salmā).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 313 | 844 |
| 2012 | 348 | 786 |
| 2013 | 324 | 826 |
| 2014 | 309 | 883 |
| 2015 | 351 | 803 |
| 2016 | 385 | 740 |
| 2017 | 362 | 767 |
| 2018 | 340 | 804 |
| 2019 | 289 | 919 |
| 2020 | 240 | 1,048 |
| 2021 | 290 | 919 |
| 2022 | 311 | 898 |
| 2023 | 295 | 907 |
| 2024 | 310 | 872 |
| 2025 | 278 | 937 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 5 | 13,852 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 111 | 404 |
| 2012 | 102 | 443 |
| 2013 | 101 | 421 |
| 2014 | 87 | 486 |
| 2015 | 90 | 478 |
| 2016 | 92 | 475 |
| 2017 | 76 | 565 |
| 2018 | 67 | 614 |
| 2019 | 58 | 670 |
| 2020 | 40 | 894 |
| 2021 | 54 | 699 |
| 2022 | 49 | 746 |
| 2023 | 45 | 794 |
| 2024 | 52 | 722 |
| 2025 | 63 | 622 |

## People named Salma

- Salma Agha, actress, singer
- Salma Khatun, Bangladeshi woman cricketer
- Salma Khalil Alio, Chadian writer and artist
- Salma Sobhan, Bangladeshi lawyer and sister of Princess Sarvath Al Hassan
- Salma Akter, Bangladeshi singer
- Salma Yaqoob, British politician (born 1971)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.