Selma

Meanings

1. A female given name.
2. A surname.
3. A placename
4. A community in Nova Scotia, Canada.
5. A village in Graubünden canton, Switzerland.
6. A place in the United States.
7. A city, the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama; named for James Macpherson's Ossianic poem The Songs of Selma.
8. A city in Fresno County, California; named for early resident Selma Michelson.
9. A city in Texas.
10. A town in North Carolina; named for the city in Alabama.
11. A town in Indiana.
12. A census-designated place in Josephine County, Oregon.

1. A confrontation where authorities brutally repress those wanting civil rights, similar to Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama.

Etymology

Taken to use in the 19th century when similar-sounding names, Elma, Thelma, Alma, Wilma, etc. were in vogue. Perhaps a shortening of Anselma, or from the name of a place in the James Macpherson's Ossian cycle of epic poems, itself from Scottish Gaelic sealladh + math (“good vision”). In some cases perhaps borrowed from Turkish Selma, from Arabic سَلْمَى (salmā).