Zelma (given name)

Zelma
	Swedish actress Zelma Hedin (1827–1874)
Gender	Primarily feminine
Language(s)	English
Origin
Meaning	Variant of Selma

Zelma is a primarily feminine given name, a variant of the name Selma.^[1]

Usage

Zelma was among the 1,000 most popular names in use for girls in the United States between 1880 and 1955. It peaked in 1902, when it was the 216th most popular name for American girls. It was among the top 100 names for girls born in Latvia between 1920 and 1935, and among the top 1,000 names for girls in Brazil between 1950 and 1960.^[2]

Women

Unita Zelma Blackwell (1933–2019), American civil rights activist
Zelma Blakely (1921–1978), British painter, printer, engraver, and illustrator
Zelma Bogue (1880–1975), American politician
Zelma Cēsniece-Freidenfelde (1892–1929), Latvian physician and politician
Zelma Davis, Liberian-born singer who rose to fame in the early 1990s
Zelma "Zee" Edgell (1940–2020), Belizean-born American writer and academic
Zelma Hedin (1827–1874), Swedish actress
Kathryn Grayson, born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick (1922–2010), American actress and coloratura soprano
Zelma Henderson (1920–2008), the last surviving plaintiff in the 1954 landmark federal school desegregation case
Zelma Huppatz (1906–1982), Australian army nurse and hospital matron
Zelma Long (born circa 1945), American enologist and winemaker
Zelma Maine-Jackson, American hydrologist
Zelma O'Neal (1903–1989), American actress, singer, and dancer
Zelma Rawlston (c. 1873 – 1915), German-born American singer, comedian, and vaudeville performer specializing in male impersonation
Zelma Roberts (1915–1988), New Zealand-born writer
Zelma Watson George (1903–1994), African American philanthropist
Zelma Wilson (1918–1996), American architect

Men

Zelma Wyche (1918–1999), African-American World War II veteran, civil rights activist, and politician

Notes

^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 283. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.
^ Campbell, Mike. "Zelma". behindthename.com. Behind the Name. Retrieved 27 December 2023.

This page or section lists people that share the same given name.
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[1] Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 283. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.

[2] Campbell, Mike. "Zelma". behindthename.com. Behind the Name. Retrieved 27 December 2023.

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