Head to head · Girls' names
Selene vs Seraphina
#621 vs #599 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Seraphina is a whisker ahead (#599 vs #621 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, Seraphina leads 5 measures of 6; Selene leads 1.
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: Selene #4814, Seraphina #3919 — Seraphina higher
- 1920s: Selene #4420, Seraphina — — Selene higher
- 1930s: Selene #3875, Seraphina — — Selene higher
- 1940s: Selene #3585, Seraphina — — Selene higher
- 1950s: Selene #3036, Seraphina — — Selene higher
- 1960s: Selene #2087, Seraphina — — Selene higher
- 1970s: Selene #1922, Seraphina — — Selene higher
- 1980s: Selene #2243, Seraphina #8611 — Selene higher
- 1990s: Selene #1156, Seraphina #9780 — Selene higher
- 2000s: Selene #1351, Seraphina #4713 — Selene higher
- 2010s: Selene #1107, Seraphina #1320 — Selene higher
- 2020s: Selene #703, Seraphina #955 — Selene higher
Selene stood higher in 11 of 12 decades; Selene has held the lead since the 1920s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Selene | Seraphina |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #4814 | #3919 |
| 1920s | #4420 | — |
| 1930s | #3875 | — |
| 1940s | #3585 | — |
| 1950s | #3036 | — |
| 1960s | #2087 | — |
| 1970s | #1922 | — |
| 1980s | #2243 | #8611 |
| 1990s | #1156 | #9780 |
| 2000s | #1351 | #4713 |
| 2010s | #1107 | #1320 |
| 2020s | #703 | #955 |
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
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.
Seraphina
burning one, fiery one — from the seraphim, the highest order of angels
The Hebrew root śārap means to burn; seraphim are the burning ones described in Isaiah's vision of the throne. Seraphina is the Latin feminine formed from that word.
śārap (Hebrew: to burn) → seraphim → Seraphinus / Seraphina (Latin) → Serafina → Seraphina
How it traveled
The word arrived in Latin through the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, untranslated, as seraphim — the angels Isaiah saw above the throne, each with six wings. Medieval Christian Europe turned it into a personal name, Seraphinus for men and Seraphina for women, and it settled most firmly in Italy, where Serafina became ordinary.
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
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.
Seraphina
seh-ruh-FEE-nuh
Four syllables, stress on the third. A minority of English-speakers say seh-ruh-FY-nuh; the Italian-style FEE is the usual American reading, and worth saying first when you introduce her.
- Sera — The most common English short form; also used on its own as a given name.
- Fina — The traditional Italian clipping, taken from the end rather than the front.
- Seri — Informal, mostly within families; sometimes spelled Serri or Sery.
- Phina — Informal and less common; shares its sound with the tail of Josephine.
- Also Sephy.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Selene if you want…
- a name fewer children share#621 in 2025 — selene will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name with fewer syllablesSelene is 2 syllables to Seraphina's 4
Choose Seraphina if you want…
- a name most people already know#599 in 2025, 489 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 673 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itSeraphina runs 4 syllables, Selene 2
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
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.
Seraphina
Strengths
- Several established short forms, front and back — Sera, Fina, Seri — so the full name never has to be the everyday one.
- Recognizable across Italian, Spanish, Polish, French and Russian, with a local spelling waiting in each.
- A documented record going back to medieval Latin, so it is a revival rather than a coinage.
To consider
- Serafina is the older and more widespread spelling, so expect to correct the f-for-ph fairly often, in both directions.
- Four syllables is a lot to carry on forms and roll calls. It works best if you are genuinely happy with one of the short forms as her daily name.
- The angel meaning is right on the surface — people will hear seraph. That is either the appeal or the thing that makes it a little much, depending on your family.
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 Selene and Seraphina 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 Selene and Seraphina?
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 these names appear on
- Names ranked #601–1000: known, but barely shared
- Celestial names: written in the stars
- Goddess and muse names
- Nine-letter names, the long end of the chart
- all guides
Where Selene and Seraphina each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Selene or Seraphina — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Selene or Seraphina?
- Seraphina, in 2025: Seraphina ranked #599 with 489 babies; Selene ranked #621 with 469 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Selene or Seraphina?
- Seraphina. Over the last five years Selene moved up 182 places; Seraphina moved up 673 places.
- Which is the older name, Selene or Seraphina?
- Selene entered the US charts in 1919; Seraphina entered the US charts in 1916. On the American record, Seraphina is the older name.
- How many people are named Selene and Seraphina?
- About 9,500 people named Selene are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 4,100 people named Seraphina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Selenes or Seraphinas in the classroom?
- Selene will almost certainly be the only one in school. Seraphina 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
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Selene, Seraphina and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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