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Original poster

How would you pronounce Selah?

84 replies

Flutterflybutterby · 14/01/2022 11:08

A biblical word, the meaning of which is not certain but it's thought to be a musical instruction meaning "to pause; reflect on God". It is quite a well-known name in American Christian communities (I know 4 baby Selahs!) but I assume fairly rare in the UK.

My question is, how would you pronounce this name? The Selahs I know pronounce it differently. Also, do you know any baby Selahs? If so, how do they say the name?

Lastly, do you like it? What sort of middle name do you think goes with it? Two of the Selahs I know have long, classic middle names (think Catherine, Elizabeth type names) and the other two short, snappy, one syllable, cool middle names. What would you choose?

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Dragonfly2022 · 19/01/2022 11:32

I would ask how to pronounce it, as I don't actually know - but if I were hazarding a guess I would pronounce it "Seller"

Anotherviewtoyou · 19/01/2022 11:00

See lah. Similar to Shelia

oldwhyno · 19/01/2022 10:01

@user1471522343

Sell-ah. Why do so many of you add an ‘r’ sound where there is no ‘r’!
it's not necessarily pronounced, it just shapes the vowel sound before.
MerryMarigold · 18/01/2022 17:09

Yes. Like Stella but without the 't'. I still say more of an 'ahhhhh' though and with the accent in second syllable sell-AHHH

Glitterygreen · 18/01/2022 16:22

@user1471522343

Sell-ah. Why do so many of you add an ‘r’ sound where there is no ‘r’!
Pronunciation/accents I guess??

I said I'd pronounce it 'cellar', but when I say the word cellar it ends in an 'a' sounds, not an r. Sella.

user1471522343 · 18/01/2022 16:15

Sell-ah. Why do so many of you add an ‘r’ sound where there is no ‘r’!

cheapskatemum · 18/01/2022 16:02

I would pronounce it "Say-La". I like it. Is there a family name you could use as a middle name?

MerryMarigold · 18/01/2022 15:57

Seh-LAA

It's a nice musical name. But plenty of opportunity for people to pronounce it on a multitude of ways (think: having 10 different teachers at secondary all saying it differently each year).

oldwhyno · 18/01/2022 15:53

I'd go with something in between Seller and Sailor.

BiBabbles · 18/01/2022 15:42

Seh-lah, though how my /eh/ sounds is different to how others would say or hear /eh/. It's one of those sounds that changes a lot by accent.

Growing up in a Midwestern American Christian community, paternal side evangelical, mother side Catholic, that's how I always heard Selah, and how I always heard when I was working with a group of British Orthodox Jews in the Midlands.

I can't recall hearing it said See-lah and that sound makes me think Silah which has a very different meaning in different variants of Arabic.

APileofLogs · 18/01/2022 15:18

See-la. It makes me think of Glennon Doyle who discusses it at length in one of her books.

TheGratefulBread · 17/01/2022 20:16

Hebrew speaker here. It's seh-lah (seller).

The Hebrew letter that translates to the E in the English spelling, is a short vowel. It certainly wouldn't make an ay sound, so say-lah is definitely a creative pronunciation. I see more logic for the see--lah pronunciation, but that isn't a short vowel, so is technically not correct.

Violetandpurple · 17/01/2022 18:08

I also presumed it was a male name until I read your middle name options.

Violetandpurple · 17/01/2022 18:08

At first glance I'd think/say
Say-La

Original poster
Flutterflybutterby · 16/01/2022 01:40

@ShoesEverywhere

My biblical Hebrew isn't great by any stretch but the e sound is a segol (the three small dots underneath the samech which is always a short e sound - I'm not sure where you've heard See-lah but I would read the Hebrew as Seh-lah.

Happy to be corrected by any more serious biblical or Jewish scholars though!

The Hebrew speaker I know told me it was See-luh, and that's how I have heard it said most, but as a name 'Say-luh' is the far more popular pronunciation Smile

I wonder if it's one of the names that is just pronounced differently depending on where you're from, like how American Christians pronounce Isaiah as "eye-zay-uh" whereas in the UK it seems to be pronounced "Eye-zeye-uh" (with the middle syllable rhyming with "eye").

OP posts:
RedCandyApple · 15/01/2022 15:05

Seller (which I don’t think sounds nice as a name!)

ShoesEverywhere · 15/01/2022 08:40

My biblical Hebrew isn't great by any stretch but the e sound is a segol (the three small dots underneath the samech which is always a short e sound - I'm not sure where you've heard See-lah but I would read the Hebrew as Seh-lah.

Happy to be corrected by any more serious biblical or Jewish scholars though!

Aphrodite31 · 15/01/2022 02:44

Say-la

Original poster
Flutterflybutterby · 15/01/2022 02:27

@whatausername

Seller. It's a bit ugly to my ears and sort of...unfinished? Nothingy? Sounds like someone's been cut off mid-speech.
Well I think it's very nice Grin
OP posts:
parchedjanuary · 15/01/2022 02:18

Cell Ahh

withsprinkles · 15/01/2022 02:10

Where on earth are some of you getting the SAY sound from?

I would have guessed SAY-luh as well. I know it from the psalms but I have never heard it said out loud with confidence.

I think I assumed SAY because it's a foreign word and feels like the e might take on a foreign sort of sound. Like é in French or something.

Avarua · 15/01/2022 01:39

See-lah

whatausername · 15/01/2022 01:36

Seller. It's a bit ugly to my ears and sort of...unfinished? Nothingy? Sounds like someone's been cut off mid-speech.

Original poster
Flutterflybutterby · 15/01/2022 00:57

Interestingly it's a Hebrew word and the correct pronunciation is 'See-luh' but 'Say-luh' is the commonly used pronunciation when it's used as a name.

We aren't in the UK and actually this name is pretty common in our environment - Lily or Evie are rarer than Selah Grin But I just wanted to get an idea of what my British friends and family might make of it, and how they'd pronounce it. I guess it's a name that, if used, we'd need to include the pronunciation in any announcement. Grin

As for middle names, I agree with a PP, it's much nicer with a longer classic middle name. I quite like it with Elizabeth, always think Elizabeth as a middle name gives people not only one other potential name, but about 6!

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Original poster
Flutterflybutterby · 15/01/2022 00:43

Peter is pronounced Pee-ter and not Peh-ter.

Lena is often Lee-nuh and not only Leh-nuh.

The word 'being' is pronounce bee-ing and not beh-ing.

There are many other examples of words where the letter 'e' doesn't make the short 'e' sound, it's hardly uncommon. (This is to the posters asking rather angrily where anyone got an 'ee' or 'ay' sound from) GrinGrin

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