Selwyn
Selwyn was given to 6 boys in 2025, #11,770 among boys’ names; 1,418 Americans have been recorded with it since 1904 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Selwyn by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Selwyn mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Selwyn is “a male given name from Old English transferred back from the surname, in quiet use since the 19th century.”
From the Middle English form of Latin Silvanus. Also from the Old English given name Selewine, from sel (“hall”) + wine (“friend”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Selwyn?
#11,770 among boys’ names, 2025
Selwyn fell from #9,422 in 2015 to #11,770 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 4.2 to 3.5 per million.
43 babies in 1961, the peak
Selwyn peaked in 1961, when 43 babies were given it (38 boys, #1,298 among boys’ names). The 6 births of 2025 are 14% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #11,770 | 3.5 |
| 2024 | 9 | #8,859 | 5.2 |
| 2018 | 8 | #9,516 | 4.4 |
| 2017 | 5 | #13,913 | 2.7 |
| 2016 | 6 | #11,896 | 3.2 |
| 2015 | 8 | #9,422 | 4.2 |
| 2014 | 5 | #13,726 | 2.6 |
| 2013 | 10 | #7,995 | 5.3 |
| 2012 | 6 | #12,024 | 3.2 |
| 2011 | 6 | #12,008 | 3.2 |
Every recorded year (106)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 7 | #10,557 | 3.6 |
| 2009 | 8 | #9,708 | 4.0 |
| 2008 | 8 | #9,706 | 3.9 |
| 2007 | 10 | #8,063 | 4.8 |
| 2005 | 6 | #11,219 | 3.0 |
| 2004 | 7 | #9,762 | 3.5 |
| 2003 | 9 | #7,719 | 4.6 |
| 2002 | 5 | #12,183 | 2.6 |
| 2001 | 5 | #11,999 | 2.6 |
| 1999 | 6 | #9,681 | 3.1 |
| 1998 | 16 | #4,373 | 8.4 |
| 1997 | 13 | #4,900 | 6.9 |
| 1996 | 11 | #5,463 | 5.8 |
| 1995 | 12 | #5,064 | 6.3 |
| 1994 | 9 | #6,257 | 4.7 |
| 1993 | 10 | #5,701 | 5.1 |
| 1992 | 26 | #2,724 | 13.0 |
| 1991 | 13 | #4,431 | 6.4 |
| 1990 | 14 | #4,133 | 6.8 |
| 1989 | 18 | #3,301 | 9.0 |
| 1988 | 16 | #3,317 | 8.4 |
| 1987 | 9 | #4,888 | 4.8 |
| 1986 | 15 | #3,241 | 8.1 |
| 1985 | 10 | #4,286 | 5.4 |
| 1984 | 14 | #3,248 | 7.8 |
| 1983 | 8 | #4,844 | 4.5 |
| 1982 | 12 | #3,646 | 6.6 |
| 1981 | 13 | #3,381 | 7.3 |
| 1980 | 10 | #4,080 | 5.6 |
| 1979 | 8 | #4,782 | 4.6 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,646 | 3.7 |
| 1977 | 12 | #3,351 | 7.3 |
| 1976 | 11 | #3,445 | 7.0 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,621 | 6.4 |
| 1974 | 13 | #2,916 | 8.3 |
| 1973 | 13 | #2,833 | 8.3 |
| 1972 | 16 | #2,406 | 9.9 |
| 1971 | 16 | #2,451 | 9.0 |
| 1970 | 24 | #1,841 | 12.9 |
| 1969 | 20 | #1,903 | 11.2 |
| 1968 | 19 | #1,887 | 10.9 |
| 1967 | 16 | #2,017 | 9.2 |
| 1966 | 22 | #1,679 | 12.3 |
| 1965 | 29 | #1,450 | 15.6 |
| 1964 | 25 | #1,607 | 12.5 |
| 1963 | 29 | #1,480 | 14.3 |
| 1962 | 37 | #1,291 | 17.9 |
| 1961 | 38 | #1,298 | 17.9 |
| 1960 | 23 | #1,724 | 10.8 |
| 1959 | 30 | #1,461 | 14.1 |
| 1958 | 18 | #1,948 | 8.5 |
| 1957 | 15 | #2,178 | 7.0 |
| 1956 | 10 | #2,770 | 4.7 |
| 1955 | 14 | #2,207 | 6.8 |
| 1954 | 12 | #2,424 | 5.9 |
| 1953 | 11 | #2,515 | 5.6 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,677 | 3.1 |
| 1951 | 16 | #1,960 | 8.5 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,745 | 5.0 |
| 1949 | 12 | #2,317 | 6.8 |
| 1948 | 13 | #2,205 | 7.4 |
| 1947 | 5 | #4,185 | 2.7 |
| 1946 | 8 | #2,883 | 4.9 |
| 1945 | 6 | #3,280 | 4.5 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,834 | 5.9 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,177 | 5.1 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,190 | 9.8 |
| 1939 | 5 | #3,903 | 4.5 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,129 | 6.3 |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,137 | 6.6 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,161 | 11.6 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,688 | 8.6 |
| 1934 | 16 | #1,846 | 15.5 |
| 1933 | 8 | #2,961 | 8.1 |
| 1932 | 20 | #1,643 | 19.2 |
| 1931 | 28 | #1,328 | 26.9 |
| 1930 | 22 | #1,596 | 20.0 |
| 1929 | 24 | #1,518 | 22.3 |
| 1928 | 32 | #1,291 | 28.9 |
| 1927 | 24 | #1,596 | 21.3 |
| 1926 | 20 | #1,779 | 18.0 |
| 1925 | 21 | #1,737 | 18.8 |
| 1924 | 21 | #1,770 | 18.5 |
| 1923 | 14 | #2,316 | 12.8 |
| 1922 | 22 | #1,686 | 20.2 |
| 1921 | 6 | #4,258 | 5.4 |
| 1920 | 11 | #2,735 | 10.3 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,638 | 11.2 |
| 1918 | 20 | #1,759 | 19.7 |
| 1917 | 15 | #2,073 | 16.2 |
| 1916 | 10 | #2,705 | 11.2 |
| 1915 | 13 | #2,159 | 15.3 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,684 | 7.6 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,196 | 9.8 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,501 | 14.0 |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,183 | 46.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Selwyn a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Selwyn has been given almost only to boys: 10 girls in 106 years of records.
Girls and boys named Selwyn: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Selwyn, and how old are they?
An estimated 843 Americans named Selwyn and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (60% of everyone recorded); the median is 52 years old and half are between 34 and 64. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,429 people named Selwyn (67 women and girls, 1,362 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 903 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Selwyn born?
The states with the most babies named Selwyn are New York, Illinois and Texas, with 97% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 160 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Illinois | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Texas | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Virginia | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Selwyn is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Selwyn is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Selwyn with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Selwyn
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Selwyn and names like it
- Compare Selwyn and ParnellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sSelwyn peaked in 1961.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Selwyn since 1910.
- Old English namesWiktionary’s origin for Selwyn: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1961The year the most babies were named Selwyn.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Selwyn alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.