Head to head · Girls' names
Selene vs Sierra
#621 vs #614 in 2025
Sierra is a whisker ahead (#614 vs #621 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Sierra is stepping back from its peak, Selene is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Selene has the edge.
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, Sierra leads 4 measures of 6; Selene 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: Selene #4814, Sierra — — Selene higher
- 1920s: Selene #4420, Sierra — — Selene higher
- 1930s: Selene #3875, Sierra — — Selene higher
- 1940s: Selene #3585, Sierra #2616 — Sierra higher
- 1950s: Selene #3036, Sierra #4920 — Selene higher
- 1960s: Selene #2087, Sierra #4893 — Selene higher
- 1970s: Selene #1922, Sierra #1769 — Sierra higher
- 1980s: Selene #2243, Sierra #487 — Sierra higher
- 1990s: Selene #1156, Sierra #85 — Sierra higher
- 2000s: Selene #1351, Sierra #112 — Sierra higher
- 2010s: Selene #1107, Sierra #369 — Sierra higher
- 2020s: Selene #703, Sierra #561 — Sierra higher
Sierra stood higher in 7 of 12 decades; Sierra has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Selene | Sierra |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #4814 | — |
| 1920s | #4420 | — |
| 1930s | #3875 | — |
| 1940s | #3585 | #2616 |
| 1950s | #3036 | #4920 |
| 1960s | #2087 | #4893 |
| 1970s | #1922 | #1769 |
| 1980s | #2243 | #487 |
| 1990s | #1156 | #85 |
| 2000s | #1351 | #112 |
| 2010s | #1107 | #369 |
| 2020s | #703 | #561 |
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.
Sierra
mountain range; literally 'saw'
Spanish sierra comes from Latin serra, 'saw' — the word was applied to ridgelines that look toothed against the horizon.
serra (Latin, 'saw') → sierra (Spanish, 'mountain range') → Sierra
How it traveled
The word is Latin serra, a saw, which Spanish turned into sierra and used for jagged mountain chains. Spanish speakers carried it across the Atlantic and left it on the map of the Americas — the Sierra Madre, the Sierra Nevada of California, and dozens of smaller ranges besides.
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.
Sierra
see-AIR-uh
In Spanish the r is trilled: SYEH-rrah. Both are correct for the same name; English speakers almost never need it spelled out.
- Si — Informal, family-level shortening; rarely written down.
- Sia — Informal short form, and a given name in its own right in several languages.
- Sierrita — Spanish-style diminutive, used affectionately in Spanish-speaking households.
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 on the way upup 182 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesSelene is 2 syllables to Sierra's 3
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 51% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 75% for Sierra
Choose Sierra if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsSierra is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itSierra runs 3 syllables, Selene 2
- a name that feels very nowSierra is stepping back from its peak
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.
Sierra
Strengths
- The spelling is already fixed in English by maps, parks and place names, so it is read and written correctly with little explanation.
- Fully at home in both English and Spanish, with no change of spelling — useful in bilingual families.
- It is also the NATO alphabet word for the letter S, which makes it unusually easy to say clearly over a phone.
To consider
- It is a word before it is a name, and a well-branded one: the Sierra Club, Sierra Nevada beer, a GMC truck. Most people hear the name first, but the associations are there.
- Because so many bearers are now grown, it can read as a name belonging to a particular cohort of adults rather than to babies — that fades as the cycle turns, but it is true at the moment.
- It resists shortening. Sierra tends to stay Sierra, which suits some families and frustrates others who like having a nickname in reserve.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Selene
51%chance Selene feels dated by 2040
Selene is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Sierra
75%chance Sierra feels dated by 2040
Sierra is coming down from a big peak (#49 in 1999). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Sierra 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 Sierra?
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 Selene and Sierra — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Selene or Sierra — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Selene or Sierra?
- Sierra, in 2025: Sierra ranked #614 with 476 babies; Selene ranked #621 with 469 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Selene or Sierra?
- Selene. Over the last five years Selene moved up 182 places; Sierra moved down 83 places.
- Which is the older name, Selene or Sierra?
- Selene entered the US charts in 1919; Sierra entered the US charts in 1940. On the American record, Selene is the older name.
- How many people are named Selene and Sierra?
- About 9,500 people named Selene are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 99,000 people named Sierra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Selenes or Sierras in the classroom?
- Selene will almost certainly be the only one in school. Sierra 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, Sierra and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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