Selene
Feminine name of Greek origin meaning "moon" or "moon goddess".
Name Census estimates that about 8,880 living Americans carry the first name Selene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Selene today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Selene births was 2022 (425 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Selene. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Selene with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.9K
~ 1 in 38,598 Americans
Peak year
2022
425 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
1991 SSA rank
#675
Tracked since 1919
Census
Selene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,326 people with the first name Selene, which placed it at #2,577 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,577
National first-name rank
People counted
9.3K
9,326 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
71.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Selene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Selene is Hispanic at 71.7%. The next largest groups are White (17.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Selene described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Selene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino71.7% · 6,688
- White17.1% · 1,591
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 371
- Black or African American3.8% · 354
- Two or more races2.9% · 267
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 55
Gender
Gender distribution for Selene
Out of the 9,245 babies given the name Selene 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.
Selene as a male name
- Ranked #9,383 in 1991
- 5 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1991 (5 births)
Selene as a female name
- Ranked #675 in 2024
- 424 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (425 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Selene appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,318 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Selene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Selene from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,347 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Selene 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 Selene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Selenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Selene, while South Carolina, Kansas, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 209 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Selene
The name Selene has its origins in Greek mythology, deriving from the ancient Greek word 'selene' meaning 'moon'. It was the name of the Greek moon goddess, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun god Helios. The name was commonly used in ancient Greek society, with records of its use dating back to the 5th century BCE.
In ancient texts, Selene was often depicted as a beautiful woman riding a chariot pulled by two white horses or oxen. She was associated with the cycles of the moon and was believed to influence things such as fertility, menstrual cycles, and the tides. The name Selene has been found inscribed on ancient Greek pottery, coins, and other artifacts from the period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Selene was a Greek princess from the island of Corfu, who lived in the 3rd century BCE. Another notable Selene was a Seleucid queen who ruled in the 2nd century BCE and was known for her strategic alliances and political influence.
In the Middle Ages, the name Selene was less common, but it did appear in some medieval literature and records. A notable example is Selene of Caria, a 14th-century Byzantine noblewoman and author who wrote on religious topics.
During the Renaissance period, the name Selene experienced a resurgence in popularity due to the renewed interest in classical Greek and Roman culture. One famous bearer of the name was Selene Gallio (1508-1567), an Italian poet and writer who was part of the literary circle of the Venetian court.
In more recent history, there have been several notable individuals named Selene, including Selene Viéville (1891-1975), a French pianist and composer, and Selene Vigil-Wilk (born 1979), an American politician and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
People
Selene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Selene 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
Selene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Selene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,880 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Selene 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 38,598 US residents.
Is Selene a common name?
We classify Selene as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,245 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Selene most popular?
The single biggest year for Selene was 2022, when 425 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Selene is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Selene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,326 people with the name Selene, or 3.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,577 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Selene in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Selene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Selene appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,318 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Selene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Selene is Hispanic at 71.7%. The next largest groups are White (17.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Selene most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Selene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.7% (6,688 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Selene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Selene a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Selene 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.
Is Selene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Selene in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Selene can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many Americans are named Selene?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.