Celena
Feminine · “moon”
Celena descends from Selene, the Greek moon — not a goddess who governs the moon but the moon itself, which is a different kind of divinity.
How old is the name Celena?
Celena first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Celena alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 4,600 people named Celena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Celena most popular?
Celena peaked in 1977, reaching #774 nationally. Today it ranks #3903, 3,129 places below that high. See the whole 1977 chart.
Where it comes from
From selene to Celena
The story of Celena
Selene drives the moon across the sky and, in the best-known story, loves the shepherd Endymion, who is granted eternal sleep so that he will not age. Greek did not sharply separate the moon from the goddess. The name reached English through French Céline and Selina, and Celena is an American spelling that appears in real numbers in the 1970s.
Meaning
moon
From Greek selene, the moon, built on selas, light or brightness; the element selenium is named after her, and the Roman equivalent Luna gives the same idea in Latin.
How the name formed
- selene
- Selina
- Celena
Related forms: Selene · Selina · Céline
Pronouncing Celena
seh-LEE-nah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Some families say SEL-ee-nah.
Nicknames for Celena
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 1995202 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #774reached in 1977
- Change vs 2023
- +15.6%37 in 2025, from 32
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Celena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Selene in Greek — same name
- Selina in English — spelling variant
- Céline in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Celenas among us
people named Celena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 43,440 born in 2025 was named Celena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Celena
- #3903
- Celena on the 2025 chart
- #268
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Celena went to 37 girls in 2025, but Selena is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 1,207, which makes it the 268th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,635 places above the chart.
- Selena1,170
- Celena37
About 1 girl in 1,332 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 43,440 for Celena itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rona test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Celena's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rona climbed just as high around 1942, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rona's path sketches the road Celena is walking now.
Celena sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Celena is headed
Celena should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Celena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Celena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning tied to something everyone can see.
- Lena is a complete short form with its own long history.
- Read correctly on sight by most English speakers.
- Selena and Selina are both more written and will be assumed.
- The stress is unsettled between the first and second syllables.
- It is strongly associated with one American decade.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Celena
Feminine · #3903 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Celenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,600 people named Celena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Celena?
- Celena is one of 2 recorded spellings. Selena is the more common one — 1,170 births in 2025 against 37 for Celena.
- How popular is the name Celena in 2025?
- Celena ranks #3903 among US girl names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Celena?
- About 1 in every 43,440 US girls born in 2025 was named Celena — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Celena with classmates?
- Celena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Celena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kay#3903 · Sonja#3903 · Truth#3903 · Gisela#3903 · Kaylene#3903 · Bronwyn#3903 · Cristal#3903 · Georgianna#3903
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Celena? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Celena and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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