Explore the Family Name Sela

The meaning of Sela

1. Spanish: habitational name from Sela de Obanza or Sela de Vinjoy in Oviedo province (Asturias). 2. Jewish (Israeli): from Hebrew sela ‘rock’, a Hebraicized form of some original Ashkenazic surnames. 3. Albanian: from Selë (definite form Sela), a short form of the Muslim personal name Selman or Selim, which are of Turkish and ultimately of Arabic origin. 4. Slovenian and Croatian (Šela): unexplained. The surname Šela is very rare in Croatia.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Sela in the United States?

Based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, we can see that the popularity of the surname 'Sela' has increased significantly between the years 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Sela was ranked 51,583 in terms of popularity and had a count of 379 people. However, by 2010, it had climbed up to the 42,237th position with an increase of 18.12%, and the count of people with this surname increased to 514, marking a growth of 35.62%. The proportion per 100,000 also rose from 0.14 to 0.17, showing a 21.43% increase.

20002010Change
Rank#51,583#42,23718.12%
Count37951435.62%
Proportion per 100k0.140.1721.43%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sela

When it comes to the ethnicity of individuals bearing the surname 'Sela', there have been some notable shifts between 2000 and 2010 as per the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, the majority of Sela's were White (88.65%), followed by Hispanics (6.07%), and a small percentage belonging to two or more races (3.69%). There were no recorded Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native individuals with this surname. By 2010, the percentage of White individuals had slightly decreased to 86.77%, while the Hispanic population had grown remarkably by 66.72% to reach 10.12%. Notably, the Asian/Pacific Islander category emerged with 1.75%, and those identifying with two or more races disappeared from the records. No changes were observed in the Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native categories.

20002010Change
White88.65%86.77%-2.12%
Hispanic6.07%10.12%66.72%
Asian/Pacific Islander0%1.75%0%
Two or More Races3.69%0%0%
Black0%0%0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0%0%0%