Given name & surname · also Hebrew, Yiddish

Selig

“one who is blessed”

Selig is used as a given name and a surname. One German interpretation is “one who is blessed.”

Original GermanSeliger

Meaning & origin

What it means

One German interpretation is “one who is blessed.”

Where it comes from

This spelling has been associated with Yiddish and Hebrew naming traditions.

How it developed

The name draws on Yiddish selig, meaning “happy, fortunate”.

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1912. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Selig through the years

Babies since 1880
154
154 boys · 0 girls
Most popular year
1925
15 babies
2025
0
Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20
—
Too few births to compare
05101520192019401960198020002025Highest share 19120.0
Selig in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1912–2025, per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 1938. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 15 in 1925. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,864 as a surname in 2020.

From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.

Selig’s family of names

Selig has a surname derivative in SELIGSON. Selig has a related form in Zelig. Selig has a related form in Zelig.

Walk Selig’s family in the name graph

SeligZeligSelikSeeligmannSeeligSaeligSelicSelickSeligmanSeligerSeligmannSeeligerSaelacSelycSelyckSeligson

Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Across languages 1

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

See also 2

Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.

Appears in

Similar names

If you love Selig, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Hebrew

Susano

“lily”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Hebrew

Cephas

“as solid as a rock”

22RareEasing

>99% boys

German

Mayland

“milan”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

German

Rector

Rector is a surname from German.

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

English · Old-fashioned

Norris

“a man from the north”

20RareEasing

>99% boys

Hebrew · Old-fashioned

Enos

“mankind” · “a man”

29RareSteady

>99% boys

English · Old-fashioned

Erwin

“a friend of the wild boar”

33RareSteady

>99% boys

German

Adelaido

“shining with nobility”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Sibling ideas

Names that share Selig’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Selig

A sister for Selig