How Selma got it's name.

Along with Col. Sharp, new residents of the prospective town were Captain A. M. Noble and Samuel Hines Hood, early merchants. Some other families moved into the area and soon decided their community needed a name. The pioneer residents held a meeting at which Mr. Noble and Mr. Hood voted in favor of naming the place Sharpsburg. Mr. Sharp said, "I'll be damned if you do." Whereupon they said.” All right; you suggest a name." Mr. Sharp thought for a minute or two. Finally he said, "Well, I'll tell you, boys. I've got a lot of affection in my heart for my old hometown of Selma, Alabama; and if you fellows wouldn't object too strenuously, I'd like to name this-here place Selma, in honor of the place where I was born." Mr. Hood said that it was all right with him, and so did Mr. Noble, and the name of Selma was officially adopted. It also has been pointed out that Mr. Sharp disliked the name of Sharpsburg because he had fought there during the War.
Among other early residents were Capt. D. H. Graves, a Union Army officer, who came South to buy cotton and to find a better climate for his wife, and whose daughter Leone, was the first girl born in Selma; Henry Millender, the first railroad agent and the first postmaster listed by the U. S. Post Office Department; Jackson Rains, a farmer and merchant whose son, Ira Thaddous, was the first boy born in Selma in 1871. Ira Rains just died in 1959.
Streets of Selma often have been named for well-known residents. Examples are Sellers, Parker, Richard's Alley, Green, Waddell, and Webb.
From the History of Selma - Centennial Program.