Selim
From the Semitic root s-l-m, the same one behind Hebrew shalom: safe, sound, peaceful. Three Ottoman sultans wore it, and that Turkish colour still clings to it. In Poland it stays rare and strictly a boy's name, given to a handful each year but slowly climbing.
Selim Pronunciation
Selim is pronounced SE-leem (/ˈsɛlim/).
What Selim means
Where Selim comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Selim grows from the old Semitic root s-l-m, the same root that gives Hebrew its shalom. The root means safe and whole. From it the name carries a plain wish, the short meaning still fixed to it: safe, sound, peaceful. That sense is older than any single language that borrowed the word.
In Turkish hands the name turned imperial. Three Ottoman sultans wore it, among them Selim I, who reigned in the early sixteenth century and was known as the Grim. Through that Ottoman world the name reached Poland and its neighbours, and it kept a Turkish colour.
On a Polish class register today, Selim marks a boy whose family roots lie outside the old borders. A teacher reads it aloud. The name has no Polish diminutive of its own, so it stands as written, short and complete. Its meaning stays plain: bezpieczny, zdrowy.
How many people are named Selim
1 in 127821 men in Poland is named Selim. 167 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2493 among male names.
Selim's popularity over time
4 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1140 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2024.
Where Selim is most popular
Selim is most popular in Łódź, 753% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+588%).
-
Łódź2 boys born+753%
-
Lower Silesian2 boys born+588%
Selim as a middle name
Selim is a first name for 167 men in Poland and a middle name for another 64, a 72/28 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 912th, between Quang (64) and Wesley (64).
-
#910 Nikolaus64
-
#911 Quang64
-
#912 Selim64
-
#913 Wesley64
-
#914 Wieslaw64