Selene
Meaning
moon, moon goddess
The story
Selene means "moon" in Greek, and she was a Greek goddess of the moon, a Titan, sometimes identified with Artemis, says Behind the Name. The American record has treated the name like a slow sunrise: about 79 girls in the 1940s, about 160 in the 1950s, about 360 in the 1960s, about 470 in the 1970s, about 480 in the 1980s, about 1,610 in the 1990s, about 1,710 in the 2000s, about 2,350 in the 2010s, and about 2,460 so far this decade, already past the whole 2010s total. Brazil holds about 2,090 Selenes, median age fifty. Eight completed decades without a single downturn, a goddess who does her work at night, and a record that keeps on brightening exactly on schedule.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Selene peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
2,087 people · the #4,959 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 100,000 · median age 50
Among people named Selene living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 91 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
The Selene deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Selene truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Selene fits with your family’s names and surname.
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