Turkish2 syllablesThree Ottoman sultans
Meaning: sound, safe, untroubled.
Selim
| Origin | Turkish, from Arabic salīm — the Turkish vowel shape of the name written Salim in Arabic |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Sound, whole, unblemished, free from harm — root s-l-m, which also produces salām (peace) and islām |
| Pronunciation | seh-LEEM, stress on the long second syllable; the e is short and open, as in "set" |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100 and rare there; unshowy and ordinary in Turkey, and current in Bosnia, Albania and the Levant |
| Variants | Salim and Saleem (Arabic, Urdu), Sélim (French transcription), Selim in Bosnian and Albanian |
| Nicknames | None standard in Turkish; the name is already about as trim as it gets |
| Building of the name | The Selimiye in Edirne, built for Selim II by Mimar Sinan and completed in 1575, is the mosque Sinan himself called his masterwork |
History & meaning
The Arabic salīm describes something intact: unhurt, undamaged, with nothing wrong in it. The Quran uses it of a person's inner life in the phrase qalb salīm, a sound heart, which is what a believer is said to bring on the day of judgement — so the word carries moral wholeness as well as physical safety. Its root, s-l-m, is one of the busiest in the language, giving salām and islām and the name Süleyman. Turkish took the whole family in and bent the vowels its own way: Arabic salām is the Turkish greeting selam, and Arabic salīm is the name Selim. That single vowel is the difference between the Turkish name and the Arabic one, and it is a regular sound change rather than a variant spelling.
Three sultans carried it, and none of them was quiet. Selim I, called Yavuz — usually translated "the Stern", and "the Grim" in English books — defeated the Mamluks between 1516 and 1517, brought Egypt, Syria and the holy cities of the Hejaz under Ottoman rule, and left his successors a claim to the caliphate. Selim II gave his name to the Selimiye in Edirne, the building the architect Sinan regarded as the summit of his own work. Selim III, deposed in 1807 for pressing his New Order reforms too hard on the janissaries, was also a serious composer in the Ottoman classical tradition who devised new makam modes; pieces attributed to him are still performed today. Not many rulers anywhere leave a written musical legacy.
Why parents choose it
Selim is one of the gentlest-sounding names in the Turkish repertoire, and the meaning is a plain wish for a child: unharmed, whole, without trouble in him. It is also easy for outsiders, since every sound in it exists in English and the spelling gives no one any difficulty. In Turkey it reads as slightly refined without being precious, and it has never been common enough to feel worn out.
Middle names for Selim
The soft ending takes a hard second name well: Selim Can, Selim Berk and Selim Hamza all land firmly, while Selim Adam gives a bicultural family a name that belongs equally to all three Abrahamic traditions. Avoid seconds beginning with s, which make the join disappear. More on that in the middle names guide.
Famous Selims
Selim I added Egypt, Syria and the Hejaz to the empire in eight years on the throne. Selim III is remembered as much for his music as his reforms, and composed under the pen name İlhami. The novelist Selim İleri has been a fixture of Turkish letters since the 1970s, writing about Istanbul with more affection than almost anyone.
Consider instead
Salim is the identical word in its Arabic dress, the better fit for a family whose other names are Arabic rather than Turkish. Barış takes the same idea into native Turkish vocabulary — it simply means peace. Kerem matches Selim's softness and means generosity, with a folk romance attached to it.