Selmer

Where Selmer comes from

Selmer hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1887
    First appearance
    #819 among boys, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1888
    Selmer Jackson born
    American actor
  3. 1899
    Peak, #661
    10 babies named Selmer — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1903
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births.
  5. 1958
    Selmer Bringsjord born
    American computer scientist
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Selmer Jackson · American actor, 1888–1971
  • Selmer Bringsjord · American computer scientist, born 1958
  • Selmer M. Johnson · American mathematician, 1916–1996
  • Selmer Nilsen · Norwegian spy for the Soviet Union, 1931–1991
  • Selmer Malvin Norland · Norwegian photographer, 1875–1931

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.