Luna
Feminine · “Moon”
Luna is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 87,715 girls against 119 boys since 1880.
Luna is the Latin word for the moon, and it was also the name of the Roman goddess who personified it — she had a temple on the Aventine Hill and was paired with Sol, the sun. Two open syllables, no silent letters, nothing to spell twice. It is one of the rare names that says its meaning out loud in English, Spanish and Italian alike.
How old is the name Luna?
Luna was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Luna is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 85,500 people named Luna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Luna most popular?
Luna peaked in 2022, reaching #10 nationally. Today it ranks #27, 17 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Luna appears on these lists:
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Short and sweet: names of four letters or fewer
- America's top 100 names right now
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- Two-syllable names, the American default
- Names in use since the records began
- all guides
Works in French families too:
Where it comes from
From Latin lūna (moon) to Luna
The story of Luna
The word came first: lūna, the Latin for moon, which in Roman religion was also a goddess, worshipped alongside Sol and matched in Greek myth by Selene. Because Latin gave way to Italian, Spanish, Catalan and Romanian, 'luna' survived as an everyday word in each of them, which is why the name feels native in so many places at once. Its use as a personal name in English is far more recent than its use as a word, and the name arrived carrying its meaning fully visible. That transparency is unusual: most names have to be looked up.
Meaning
Moon
Directly from Latin lūna, 'moon' — the same root behind English 'lunar'.
How the name formed
- Latin lūnamoon
- LunaRoman goddess of the moon
- Luna
Related forms: Luna · Luna · Lluna · Lua · Luna · Selene
Pronouncing Luna
LOO-nuh
Said the same way in English, Spanish and Italian, with a slightly crisper final vowel in the latter two: LOO-nah. Very little room for error in any of them.
Nicknames for Luna
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 2016 — Chrissy Teigen and John Legend name their daughter Luna
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20228,977 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #10reached in 2022
- Change vs 2022
- −32.3%6,076 in 2025, from 8,977
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.
Luna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Luna in Spanish — same name
- Luna in Italian — same name
- Lluna in Catalan — spelling variant
- Lua in Portuguese — related form
- Luna in Romanian — same name
- Selene in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE, Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Lunas among us
people named Luna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 265 born in 2025 was named Luna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Laura test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Luna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Laura climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Laura's path sketches the road Luna is walking now.
Luna is coming down from a big peak (#10 in 2022). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Luna is headed
Luna should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Luna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Luna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One spelling, one pronunciation. Almost no one will need to ask how to write it or say it.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Italian and Romanian, where it is also simply the word for the moon.
- Currently charts in France, Canada and England & Wales as well as the US — it travels without translation.
- The meaning is settled and needs no explanation; most people already know what 'lunar' comes from.
- Short forms are ready-made: Lu, Lulu, and Lunita in Spanish-speaking families.
- The name's whole wave is recent, so nearly everyone carrying it is a child. That will pass as this generation grows, but for now it reads young.
- 'Lunatic' and 'loony' come from the same Latin root, and children find that sooner or later. Most Lunas hear it once and move on.
- It is also a very popular name for dogs and cats, which comes up more often than parents expect.
- Strongest by far in California, Texas and Florida, so how familiar it feels depends a good deal on where you are.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Luna
Feminine · #27 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lunas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 85,500 people named Luna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Luna in 2025?
- Luna ranks #27 among US girl names in 2025, with 6,076 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Luna?
- About 1 in every 265 US girls born in 2025 was named Luna — 6,076 in all.
- Will my child share the name Luna with classmates?
- Luna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Luna's chart?
- Luna climbed after 2016 — Chrissy Teigen and John Legend name their daughter Luna.
Ranked beside Luna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aria#26 · Isla#28 · Ella#29 · Lainey#30 · Ellie#24 · Lucy#24 · Chloe#23 · Zoe#31
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Luna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Luna and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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