MaleOrigin: Arabic

Selim: Meaning, Origin and Pronunciation

Selim is a boy’s name of Arabic origin. It means “sound, safe; free from fault”.

Say it: seh-leem

About the name Selim

Meaning: sound, safe; free from fault
Origin: Arabic; From Arabic salīm.
Gender: Male
Pronunciation: seh-leem

Well-known bearer

Selim I “Yavuz” (ruled 1512–1520) was the father of Suleiman the Magnificent.

How to pronounce Selim

Turkish spelling is phonetic: every letter is pronounced, and each letter always has the same sound. Our respellingseh-leem is an approximation for English speakers. Turkish stresses syllables much more evenly than English, so avoid hitting one syllable hard. Tap the letters below for tips.

Selim

Letters English doesn’t haveFamiliar letters with a Turkish twist

Every letter in Selim sounds close to English. Just keep each vowel short and pure, without the glides English adds (“o” not “oh-oo”).

Practice the sounds in the Turkish alphabet tool or readhow to pronounce i, dotless ı and soft g.

Selim with Turkish suffixes

Turkish adds case endings where English uses prepositions. With a personal name the ending is separated by anapostrophe (Selim'e, Selim'in), but it is still pronounced as one word. The apostrophe only marks where the name ends; the suffix itself follows the usual rules.

The last vowel of Selim is i, a front unrounded vowel. So two-way suffixes take e and four-way suffixes takei (vowel harmony):Selim'de, Selim'i.

Because Selim ends in a consonant, vowel-initial endings attach directly (Selim'i, Selim'e) with no buffer letter.

Case forms of Selim
Case	Form	Example
Accusative (object)	Selim'i	Selim'i tanıyor musun? Do you know Selim?
Dative (to)	Selim'e	Selim'e bir mesaj yazdım. I wrote a message to Selim.
Locative (at / with)	Selim'de	Anahtarlar Selim'de. Selim has the keys. (lit. The keys are at Selim.)
Ablative (from)	Selim'den	Selim'den bir hediye aldım. I got a present from Selim.
Genitive (’s)	Selim'in	Bu Selim'in çantası. This is Selim’s bag.
Instrumental (with)	Selim'le	Dün Selim'le konuştum. I talked with Selim yesterday.

Forms are generated by TurkLogic’s tested grammar engine. See every case explained in theTurkish noun cases guide, or check the harmony of any word in thevowel harmony calculator.

More male names of Arabic origin

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Selim mean?

Selim is a Turkish boy’s name meaning “sound, safe; free from fault”. Its origin is Arabic. From Arabic salīm.

How do you pronounce Selim?

Say it roughly as “seh-leem”, keeping every vowel short and clear.

How do you add suffixes to Selim in Turkish?

Because Selim is a proper name, case endings go after an apostrophe and follow vowel harmony: Selim'e (to Selim), Selim'in (Selim’s), Selim'de (at Selim’s) and Selim'le (with Selim).