How would you pronounce Selah?

[Flutterflybutterby]

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?

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

It's not Saylah. It's Selah.

Like Sarah but with an l

Like Sheila without the h.

@Andtheyalllookjustthesame

Seal-ah

Like this.

I’ve never heard of it. Don’t think it’s especially attractive and it will be a pain for her to be endlessly spelling it. So unless you are dead set I’d find something else.

Always assumed it was pronounced see-lah

Like Stella without the T

Sell-ah

I always think with an unusual 1st name (and I like unusual names - my child has one) it's always good to have a classic traditional middle name so if they don't like having an unusual name when older they have an option of a well known name they could use.

I am not familiar with the name, would have guessed sellAH with the emphasis on the last syllable.

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)

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 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.

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!

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

See-lah

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.

Cell Ahh

@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

Say-la

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!

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

@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

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").

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

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

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.

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

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.