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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Girl's nameOrigin: ArabicIn Israel: steady

SalmaIn Hebrew: סלמא · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: סַלְמָא

Salma (Hebrew: סלמא) is a girl's name of Arabic origin. 2,287 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 78 girls and ranked #217. Its peak year was 2016, with 124 babies.

People in Israel
2,287
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
78
rank #217
Peak year
2016
124 babies
USA, 2025
278
rank #936

Writing and saying Salma

In Hebrew letters the name is סלמא, read right to left. Salma is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms.

We have no sourced English explanation of this name yet, so we do not guess one. The Hebrew page has our Hebrew notes when there are any.

Salma by year: Israel and abroad

How many girls out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

Salma: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Salma in English-speaking countries

Salma in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States2025278#9361999 (442)
United Kingdom202563#6552007 (148)
England and Wales202563#6222007 (142)
Ireland20256#5282017 (8)
Alberta20258#5522012 (14)
Quebec20259#5002013 (61)

Counts for girls. The Hebrew page for Salma has every year and the other spellings.

Related Israeli names

Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.

Questions about Salma

How do you write Salma in Hebrew?

Salma is written סלמא in Hebrew (with vowel points: סַלְמָא). Hebrew is read right to left.

How many people in Israel are named Salma?

2,287 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name סלמא: 2,287 women and 0 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

Is Salma a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a girl's name: 100.0% of the people named סלמא are women.

Is Salma used outside Israel?

The name Salma appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 278 girls were given it in 2025 (#936), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 63 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.