Celene
Feminine · “the moon' from Greek”
Celene has two possible parents from two different heavens. Greek Selene is the moon — the goddess and the word — and gives Selena and Selene. Latin caelum is the sky, and gives Celia, Celine and Celeste. The C spelling points at the second and the sound points at the first. Its American peak is 1993.
How old is the name Celene?
Celene first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Celene alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 1,600 people named Celene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Celene most popular?
Celene peaked in 1993, reaching #1529 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 4,587 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From selene to Celene
The story of Celene
Selene was one of the Titans in Greek myth, driving the moon across the sky as her brother Helios drove the sun; her name stayed in Greek use and gave the modern Selene and Selena. The Latin line is separate: Caelius was a Roman family name, Caelia its feminine, and Christian Latin produced Caelestis and Caelina. French wore the latter down to Celine, which Saint Celine, mother of Saint Remigius, carried in the fifth century. American naming has used both lines, and the spelling Celene falls in the gap — near enough to Selene to be heard as the moon and spelled near enough to Celine to be read as the sky.
Meaningscholars disagree
'the moon' from Greek; or 'heavenly' from Latin
Two genuine and unrelated sources. Greek selene is the ordinary word for the moon and the name of its goddess; it gives selenium, named because the element was found alongside tellurium, which was named for the earth. Latin caelum, 'sky, heaven', gives caelestis and the Roman family name Caelius, from which come Celia, Celeste and French Celine. Celene sits between the two spellings and can descend from either.
How the name formed
- selene
- Selene
- Celine
- Celene
Related forms: Celine · Selene · Selena · Celina
Pronouncing Celene
suh-LEEN
Two syllables, stress at the end, with a long e. A three-syllable seh-LEE-nee, following the Greek Selene, is also heard on this spelling. Both are current in American use.
Nicknames for Celene
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
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 1993102 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1529reached in 1993
- Change vs 2023
- +26.7%19 in 2025, from 15
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.
Celene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Celine in French — related form
- Selene in Greek — related form
- Selena in Spanish — related form
- Celina in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Celenes among us
people named Celene are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Celene
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Celene
- #6116
- Celene on the 2025 chart
- #525
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Celene went to 19 girls in 2025, but Selene is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 488, which makes it the 525th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,591 places above the chart.
- Selene469
- Celene19
About 1 girl in 3,294 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 84,593 for Celene 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 Krishna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Celene's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Krishna climbed just as high around 1971, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Krishna's path sketches the road Celene is walking now.
Celene 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
Celene beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Celene in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both possible meanings are attractive and easy to explain.
- Lena and Cece are both usable short forms with different registers.
- The spelling is short and needs no accents.
- Celine, Celene, Selene and Selina all circulate and are constantly confused.
- Two- and three-syllable pronunciations both occur.
- The two possible ancestries give two different meanings.
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What they receive
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Celene
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Celenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Celene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Celene?
- Celene is one of 2 recorded spellings. Selene is the more common one — 469 births in 2025 against 19 for Celene.
- How popular is the name Celene in 2025?
- Celene ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Celene?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Celene — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Celene with classmates?
- Celene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Celene
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Mena#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Celene? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Celene and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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