Sela is from the Hebrew Selah (rock, mountain) — also from the Tongan name meaning princess. A modern American baby name in the broader cross-cultural heritage aesthetic. Sela Ward (born 1956) — American actress; 2 Primetime Emmy Awards — Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Sisters (NBC 1991-1996) and Once and Again (ABC 1999-2002); Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series (1995) for Sisters; CSI: NY (CBS 2010-2013), House M.D. (FOX 2009-2010); over 50 film and TV credits; one of the most-iconic American TV drama actresses of the 1990s-2000s. Sela in the Hebrew Bible — the iconic mountain fortress of Edom mentioned in 2 Kings 14:7 (later called Petra by the Greeks); the ancient Nabataean rock-cut city of Petra, Jordan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1985) and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World (2007). Sela (Tongan tradition) — also used as a feminine name across Tonga and the broader Polynesian Pacific; reflects the Pacific Islander naming tradition. Sela Apera (born 1996) — Tongan rugby player. Princess Sela — modern Tongan royal heritage naming. Sela Sampson — modern American figure. Sela Vave — American singer. The Sela name reflects the broader 2020s American taste for short cross-cultural feminine names with diverse heritage resonance.
Featured throughout American TV and biblical heritage.
Sela does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Sela reduce to 1, The Leader. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.