Selena
Of Greek origin, meaning "moon".
Name Census estimates that about 54,955 living Americans carry the first name Selena. It sits at #245 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Selena today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Selena births was 1995 (3,840 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Selena. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Although Selena is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 57 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
55K
~ 1 in 6,237 Americans
Peak year
1995
3,840 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2004 SSA rank
#245
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Selena
Out of the 58,753 babies given the name Selena since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Selena as a male name
- Ranked #11,120 in 2004
- 6 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1995 (15 births)
Selena as a female name
- Ranked #245 in 2024
- 1,289 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (3,825 births)
Popularity
Selena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Selena from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 15,076 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Selena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Selena by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Selena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Selenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Selena, while Wyoming, South Dakota, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,088 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Selena
The name Selena is a Greek name that originated from the word "selene," which means "moon" in ancient Greek. It was derived from the Greek goddess of the moon, Selene, who was a Titan in Greek mythology. The name Selena was popular in ancient Greece and was often associated with beauty, grace, and serenity.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Selena was in the 3rd century BC, when a Greek poet named Callimachus wrote a poem about the goddess Selene. The name was also mentioned in various Greek texts and inscriptions from the ancient world.
In the Middle Ages, the name Selena was used by Christians as a variant of the name Selene, and it was often given to girls born during a full moon or on the night of a lunar eclipse. The name was particularly popular in Eastern Europe, where it was spelled as "Selena" or "Selina."
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Selena was Selene I, a queen of the ancient Greek city-state of Sicyon in the 3rd century BC. Another notable figure was Selene II, a queen of the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC.
During the Renaissance period, the name Selena became popular in Italy, where it was often spelled as "Selena" or "Selina." One of the most famous individuals with this name was Selena Garresio, an Italian painter and engraver who lived in the 16th century.
In the 19th century, the name Selena gained popularity in Latin America, particularly in Mexico. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, a Mexican-American singer, songwriter, and fashion designer who was known as the "Queen of Tejano music." She was born in 1971 and tragically died in 1995 at the age of 23.
Other notable individuals with the name Selena include Selena Gomez, an American singer and actress born in 1992; Selena Quintanilla-Perez, a Mexican-American singer and songwriter born in 1971; Selena Royle, an American actress born in 1904 and died in 1983; and Selena Zott, an American actress born in 1996.
People
Selena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Selena as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Selena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Selena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 54,955 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Selena going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 6,237 US residents.
Is Selena a common name?
We classify Selena as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 58,753 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Selena most popular?
The single biggest year for Selena was 1995, when 3,840 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Selena is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Selena a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Selena in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.