Salma
- Pronunciation
- [Sal-ma]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Peaceful
- Origin
- Arabic
About the Name Salma
Salma is an Arabic name traditionally understood to mean "peaceful" or "safe," drawn from the same root as salaam, the Arabic word for peace. Soft yet substantial, it has long been a cherished name across the Arabic-speaking world and beyond, prized for its serene meaning and its smooth, balanced sound — a name that conveys calm and well-being while remaining strong and clear in its two-syllable shape.
Its international visibility owes much to actress Salma Hayek (born 1966), a Mexican-American actress, producer, and former model whose three-decade career has produced multiple American film roles, including her Best Actress Academy Award nomination for Julie Taymor's Frida. Her prominence helped introduce the name to a wide global audience.
On the American charts, Salma first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000 at its peak of #673 and has held a place ever since, sitting at #870 in 2024 after #906 the year before and #897 in 2022 — a remarkable quarter-century of continuous presence that few names sustain so steadily. Pronounced Sal-ma, the name offers two clean syllables and a tranquil, hopeful meaning, with the gentle nickname Sal or Sally coming naturally. Its recorded variant is Zelma, a related form with a similar soft cadence. Serene and enduring, Salma carries its meaning of peace with quiet grace.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Salma
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Salma by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2016 with 385 girls named Salma (girl rank #740 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #937 for girls (278 US births). That's 197 places below its 2016 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Salma Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Salma the strongest states are Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota | #289 | 204 |
| 2 | Illinois | #642 | 156 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | #673 | 58 |
| 4 | New Jersey | #706 | 102 |
| 5 | Michigan | #722 | 72 |
| 6 | Washington | #722 | 89 |
| 7 | Florida | #729 | 220 |
| 8 | New York | #733 | 197 |
| 9 | Texas | #773 | 329 |
| 10 | California | #785 | 386 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colorado | #881 | 18 |
| 2 | Arizona | #861 | 40 |
| 3 | Virginia | #833 | 66 |
| 4 | Ohio | #801 | 117 |
| 5 | California | #785 | 386 |
| 6 | Texas | #773 | 329 |
| 7 | New York | #733 | 197 |
| 8 | Florida | #729 | 220 |
| 9 | Washington | #722 | 89 |
| 10 | Michigan | #722 | 72 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Salma in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zelma | Variant Of Selma Comely. | Female | English |
Famous People Named Salma
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Salma.
- Salma Hayek — Movie Actress (1966)
Looking for names like Salma?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Salma to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Salma against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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