Head to head · Girls' names
Sariyah vs Selene
#624 vs #621 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Selene is a whisker ahead (#621 vs #624 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Selene leads 4 measures of 6; Sariyah leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Sariyah —, Selene #4814 — Selene higher
- 1920s: Sariyah —, Selene #4420 — Selene higher
- 1930s: Sariyah —, Selene #3875 — Selene higher
- 1940s: Sariyah —, Selene #3585 — Selene higher
- 1950s: Sariyah —, Selene #3036 — Selene higher
- 1960s: Sariyah —, Selene #2087 — Selene higher
- 1970s: Sariyah —, Selene #1922 — Selene higher
- 1980s: Sariyah —, Selene #2243 — Selene higher
- 1990s: Sariyah #7878, Selene #1156 — Selene higher
- 2000s: Sariyah #3049, Selene #1351 — Selene higher
- 2010s: Sariyah #933, Selene #1107 — Sariyah higher
- 2020s: Sariyah #688, Selene #703 — Sariyah higher
Selene stood higher in 10 of 12 decades; Sariyah has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Sariyah | Selene |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | — | #4814 |
| 1920s | — | #4420 |
| 1930s | — | #3875 |
| 1940s | — | #3585 |
| 1950s | — | #3036 |
| 1960s | — | #2087 |
| 1970s | — | #1922 |
| 1980s | — | #2243 |
| 1990s | #7878 | #1156 |
| 2000s | #3049 | #1351 |
| 2010s | #933 | #1107 |
| 2020s | #688 | #703 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Sariyah
Two readings compete: Arabic sāriya, 'pillar, mast' and also 'night-traveling cloud'; or an extended form of Sarah, 'noblewoman'.
The Arabic word sāriya is well attested in both senses — the column of a building and the rain cloud that moves after dark. Separately, many American parents read the name as Sarah with the -iyah ending attached, on the pattern of Aaliyah and Amariyah. There is also the biblical-adjacent spelling Sariah, whose own meaning has never been settled. No single line has been proven to be the source of the American name, and all three may be feeding it at once.
سارية (sāriya) → Sariya → Sariah → Sariyah
How it traveled
The clearest documented root is Arabic: sāriya, a pillar or ship's mast, and by another sense a cloud that moves at night. The spelling Sariah has circulated in American English since the nineteenth century through the Book of Mormon, where it belongs to the wife of Lehi.
Selene
Moon
Greek selēnē is simply the ordinary word for the moon; it is connected to selas, 'light, brightness'.
Σελήνη (Selēnē) → Selene → Selena → Selina
How it traveled
Selene comes straight from Greek σελήνη, the everyday word for the moon, which also served as the name of the Titan goddess of the moon — sister of Helios the sun and Eos the dawn in Hesiod's account of the older gods. Latin writers borrowed the name unchanged, and it traveled with classical learning into the modern languages of Europe, where the related forms Selena and Selina took hold alongside it.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Sariyah
sah-REE-yah
The -iyah spelling pulls most American speakers to sah-REE-yah, matching Aaliyah and Maliyah. A minority say suh-RYE-uh, following the older Sariah. Deciding early and saying it the same way every time settles it faster than any spelling will.
- Sari — The most natural short form; also stands alone as a given name in several languages, including Finnish and Hungarian.
- Sara — An everyday shortening that doubles as one of the most widely used given names in the world.
- Riya — Takes the back half; a common given name in its own right in India.
- Ria — Informal, and established independently as a short form of Maria and Victoria.
Selene
suh-LEEN
Two pronunciations are both in real use: the anglicized two-syllable suh-LEEN, and the classical three-syllable seh-LEE-nee, closer to the Greek. Spanish speakers generally say seh-LEH-neh. Expect to state your preference more than once.
- Lena — The most portable short form, and a long-established given name in its own right across English, German and Scandinavian use.
- Sel — Informal, family-and-friends level; almost never written on anything official.
- Sele — Heard in Spanish-speaking families, where the vowels of the full name stay closer to the surface.
- Selly — Affectionate and mostly used with young children.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Sariyah if you want…
- a name with more sound in itSariyah runs 3 syllables, Selene 2
Choose Selene if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesSelene is 2 syllables to Sariyah's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Sariyah
Strengths
- Two ready-made short forms, Sari and Sara, both of which already work as standalone names in other languages.
- The -iyah ending is familiar to American ears, so the name is rare without ever sounding unplaceable.
- Three syllables with the stress in the middle, which sits easily against short one- and two-syllable surnames.
To consider
- Two pronunciations are genuinely in circulation — sah-REE-yah and suh-RYE-uh — so expect to correct people occasionally, especially on paper before they hear it said.
- Sariah, Saria and Sarya are all in use, which means the spelling will need repeating at appointments and on forms for life.
- The name's wave is very recent, so nearly everyone carrying it is a child right now. That reads fresh, but it does date the name to this era rather than making it feel ageless.
Selene
Strengths
- The meaning is settled and easy to explain in one word — moon — which is rarer than parents expect.
- Spelled the same in English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, so it crosses borders without adjustment.
- An unbroken presence in American records for more than a century, so it is familiar without being common.
To consider
- The two-syllable and three-syllable pronunciations both have real currency, so she will spend some of her life correcting people — or, more likely, answering to both.
- Selena, Selina and Céline are close enough that mail and roll calls will sometimes land on the wrong one. Céline is actually a separate name from a Latin root, but few people know that.
- It is climbing rather than fading, so it may be noticeably more familiar by the time she reaches school than it is now — still far from crowded, but less of a solo act than the record suggests.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Sariyah and Selene in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Sariyah and Selene?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Sariyah and Selene — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Sariyah or Selene — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Sariyah or Selene?
- Selene, in 2025: Selene ranked #621 with 469 babies; Sariyah ranked #624 with 468 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Sariyah or Selene?
- Sariyah. Over the last five years Sariyah moved up 190 places; Selene moved up 182 places.
- Which is the older name, Sariyah or Selene?
- Sariyah entered the US charts in 1998; Selene entered the US charts in 1919. On the American record, Selene is the older name.
- How many people are named Sariyah and Selene?
- About 6,500 people named Sariyah are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 9,500 people named Selene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Sariyahs or Selenes in the classroom?
- Sariyah will almost certainly be the only one in school. Selene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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