Selene
2025 SSA
Below 5 births
About Selene
While the Latin Selena is more familiar in the US these days, the sleek, Greek original has plenty to offer. Borne by the Greek Goddess of the moon, she is the sister of Helios the sun god. A recent re-entry to the England and Wales Top 1000, Selene also charts in Italy and the US, where it's been on the rise.
Meaning "moon", this celestial choice is typically pronounced as suh-LEEN, though the traditional Greek pronunciation is SEH-LEH-NEH or SEH-LEE-NEE. There's also the French form, Sélène (SEH-LEHN) to ponder.
While they may sound similar, Selene is a distinct name to Celine, which relates to the heavens rather than the moon.
Selene is also given to boys.
Pronounced suh-LEE-nee.
As of October 2026, Selene ranked #623 in US births in 2025 SSA, Nameberry popularity #268.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #1,251 | 194 | 108.6 |
| 2015 | #1,180 | 214 | 119.9 |
| 2016 | #1,216 | 203 | 114.6 |
| 2017 | #918 | 292 | 169.1 |
| 2018 | #832 | 327 | 192.2 |
| 2019 | #858 | 313 | 186.5 |
| 2020 | #805 | 337 | 208.5 |
| 2021 | #724 | 396 | 241.3 |
| 2022 | #691 | 425 | 259.1 |
| 2023 | #708 | 401 | 249.9 |
| 2024 | #675 | 424 | 261.7 |
| 2025 | #623 | 469 | 291.8 |
World rankings
Selene for girls
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Selene.
Selene on lists
Famous Selenes
- Cleopatra Selene IIGirl
daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, twin sister of Alexander Helios (Helios and Selene are Greek for "sun" and "moon," respectively)
- Selene LunaGirl
Mexican actress
- Selene Here VigilGirl
Wilk, American singer of band 7 Year Bitch
Selene in pop culture
- SeleneGirl
character in the Underworld movie franchise
- Selene GallioGirl
villain in X,Men comics
- SeleneGirl
birth name of Cinder, main character of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series
- SeleneGirl
sabre,toothed tiger on TV series "Cro"
- Selene LindstromGirl
character in Isaac Asimov's novel "The Gods Themselves"
- SeleneGirl
alias used by Lanfear in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series
- Selene WaitesGirl
character in "Another Thing to Fall" by Laura Lippman
- "The heathenish given name of this young woman was pronounced as SayGirl
lay,nay by herself and her father; Aaron later compromised as Say,lane; most people, including the Bois missionaries, called her See,lean. That it was an appellation of the swift moon goddess (something that Aaron never knew and Selene may not have known) was not too unsuitable." [Sinclair Lewis, "The God,seeker," 1949]
Variations & nicknames
- SélèneGirlFrench