How common is the surname Selby?

11,908 people in the United States had the surname Selby in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 25,928 Americans. It ranked 3,008th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Selby?

Hubert Selby Jr., American writer (1928–2004), followed by David Selby.

Where is the surname Selby most common?

Wikidata records people named Selby in the United States.

How do you pronounce Selby?

Selby is /ˈsɛlbi/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Selby getting more or less common?

More common. 11,533 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 11,908 in 2010, up 3.3%.

Is Selby also a first name?

Yes. Selby is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Selby

A Norse place surname, carried by 11,908 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈsɛlbi/ 2 syllables Soundex S410

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Selby is more common than 98.1% of them.

Origin

Norse origin

From Old Norse selja (“willow, sallow”) + býr (“settlement, farm”).

Selby is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 126 Norse surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 11,908 people named Selby in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 25,928 Americans. That is up 3.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 11,533.

#3,008

rank among US surnames

11,908

people in 2010

4.0

per 100,000 Americans

+3.3%

change since 2000 (was #2,858)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,999	Qualls	11,958	25,819
#3,000	Persaud	11,956	25,823
#3,001	Fortner	11,951	25,834
#3,003	Gilman	11,946	25,845
#3,004	Cecil	11,941	25,856
#3,005	France	11,937	25,865
#3,007	Greenfield	11,922	25,897

Who is named Selby

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

81% of people named Selby identified as white (not Hispanic), 13% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 81%
Black (not Hispanic) 13%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 2.0%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Selbys

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Hubert Selby Jr.
American writer (1928–2004)
David Selby
American actor (born 1941)
Josh Selby
American basketball player (born 1991)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Selby

Selby has the Soundex code S410, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S410.

Other Norse surnames

All 126 Norse surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Selby come from?: From Old Norse selja (“willow, sallow”) + býr (“settlement, farm”).
How common is the surname Selby?: 11,908 people in the United States had the surname Selby in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 25,928 Americans. It ranked 3,008th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Selby?: In the 2010 Census, 81% of people named Selby identified as white (not Hispanic), and 13% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Selby?: Hubert Selby Jr., American writer (1928–2004), followed by David Selby.
Where is the surname Selby most common?: Wikidata records people named Selby in the United States.
How do you pronounce Selby?: Selby is /ˈsɛlbi/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Selby?: Selby is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Selby getting more or less common?: More common. 11,533 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 11,908 in 2010, up 3.3%.
Is Selby also a first name?: Yes. Selby is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.