Selene
Selene was given to 469 girls in 2025, #623 among girls’ names; 9,718 Americans have been recorded with it since 1919 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,450 Americans named Selene and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 16 years old and half are between 6 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Selene by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Selene mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Selene is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.” Its etymology gives the sense “light” (σέλας).
From the Ancient Greek Σελήνη (Selḗnē, proper noun), from σέλας (sélas, “light”).
/səˈlini/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Selene?
#623 among girls’ names, 2025
Selene rose from #1,180 in 2015 to #623 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.12 to 0.29 per 1,000.
469 babies in 2025, the peak
Selene peaked in 2025, when 469 girls were given it, #623 among girls’ names. In 2024 it went to 426 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 469 | #623 | 0.29 |
| 2024 | 426 | #675 | 0.26 |
| 2023 | 401 | #708 | 0.25 |
| 2022 | 425 | #692 | 0.26 |
| 2021 | 397 | #720 | 0.24 |
| 2020 | 337 | #805 | 0.21 |
| 2019 | 313 | #858 | 0.19 |
| 2018 | 327 | #832 | 0.19 |
| 2017 | 292 | #918 | 0.17 |
| 2016 | 204 | #1,212 | 0.12 |
Every recorded year (91)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 214 | #1,180 | 0.12 |
| 2014 | 194 | #1,251 | 0.11 |
| 2013 | 215 | #1,130 | 0.12 |
| 2012 | 240 | #1,052 | 0.14 |
| 2011 | 170 | #1,360 | 0.10 |
| 2010 | 179 | #1,315 | 0.10 |
| 2009 | 197 | #1,253 | 0.11 |
| 2008 | 202 | #1,249 | 0.11 |
| 2007 | 225 | #1,144 | 0.12 |
| 2006 | 264 | #987 | 0.14 |
| 2005 | 168 | #1,316 | 0.09 |
| 2004 | 186 | #1,207 | 0.10 |
| 2003 | 108 | #1,752 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 131 | #1,465 | 0.07 |
| 2001 | 111 | #1,647 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 117 | #1,538 | 0.06 |
| 1999 | 138 | #1,311 | 0.08 |
| 1998 | 132 | #1,336 | 0.07 |
| 1997 | 115 | #1,445 | 0.07 |
| 1996 | 118 | #1,404 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 196 | #963 | 0.11 |
| 1994 | 185 | #1,010 | 0.10 |
| 1993 | 215 | #899 | 0.12 |
| 1992 | 193 | #989 | 0.10 |
| 1991 | 150 | #1,168 | 0.08 |
| 1990 | 166 | #1,068 | 0.09 |
| 1989 | 85 | #1,634 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 51 | #2,232 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 50 | #2,188 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 43 | #2,373 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 40 | #2,471 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 43 | #2,291 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 43 | #2,264 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 35 | #2,688 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 37 | #2,555 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 54 | #1,974 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 54 | #1,945 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 46 | #2,084 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 64 | #1,655 | 0.04 |
| 1976 | 51 | #1,835 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 43 | #2,047 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 39 | #2,126 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 45 | #1,878 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 36 | #2,165 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 46 | #1,900 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 49 | #1,823 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 70 | #1,382 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 25 | #2,529 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 28 | #2,311 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 46 | #1,664 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 41 | #1,795 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 34 | #2,065 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 40 | #1,862 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 30 | #2,201 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 29 | #2,237 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 16 | #3,186 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 33 | #1,978 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 27 | #2,202 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 16 | #3,013 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 17 | #2,913 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 10 | #4,003 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 15 | #2,994 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 8 | #4,530 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 12 | #3,352 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 10 | #3,677 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 13 | #3,028 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 9 | #3,844 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,904 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 14 | #2,874 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 23 | #1,958 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 9 | #3,349 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 7 | #4,006 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 6 | #4,614 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 6 | #4,565 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 6 | #4,345 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 6 | #4,275 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,993 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 5 | #5,328 | under 0.01 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,765 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 5 | #5,600 | under 0.01 |
| 1919 | 5 | #5,451 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Selene a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Selene has been given almost only to girls: 5 boys in 91 years of records.
Girls and boys named Selene: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Selene, and how old are they?
9,450 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 9,718 Americans ever recorded as Selene. The median Selene alive today is 16 years old; half are between 6 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 9,318 people named Selene (9,296 women and girls, 22 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,157 born in the U.S. The Census count is 30% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 17 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 289 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 685 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,620 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,660 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,190 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Selene born?
The states with the most babies named Selene are California, Texas and Florida, with 49% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 101 | #324 | 2.1× |
| Texas | 59 | #545 | 1.5× |
| Florida | 48 | #396 | 0.8× |
| New York | 39 | #450 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 17 | #612 | 0.4× |
| Virginia | 16 | #515 | 0.5× |
| New Jersey | 15 | #528 | 0.3× |
| Arizona | 12 | #572 | 1.5× |
| Washington | 12 | #579 | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 12 | #684 | 0.3× |
Where Selene is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Selene is most over-represented in California: since 1919 it was given 2.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Selene with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 90,477 babies since 1880, Selene is the third most given (11% of them). In 2025 it was given to 469 of their 1,876 babies (25%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Selene
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Selene and names like it
- Compare Selene and SelenaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sSelene peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Selene since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Selene: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Selene.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Selene alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with SMost given first.