Selenia
Feminine · “the moon”
Selene is not a goddess of the moon. She is the moon — the Greeks personified the thing itself, and she drives it across the sky rather than presiding over it from somewhere else. That distinction matters, and it is why the element selenium is named after her: a chemist found it alongside another element named for the earth and matched the pair.
How old is the name Selenia?
Selenia first appears in US birth records in 1959 — 66 years ago. The typical Selenia alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 500 people named Selenia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Selenia most popular?
Selenia peaked in 1998, reaching #3914 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 9,294 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From selene to Selenia
The story of Selenia
Selene drives a chariot across the night sky in Greek myth and is best remembered for Endymion, the shepherd she loved and kept in permanent sleep so he would not age. Her name stayed in Greek use and produced Selena and Selina in Spanish and English. Selenium got its name in 1817, when a Swedish chemist isolated it in company with tellurium — named for the earth — and reached for the moon to make the pair. Selenia appears in American records from 1959 and is concentrated in California.
Meaning
the moon
From the Greek selene, the moon, and the name of its personification. The word is connected to selas, a light or brightness. Artemis and Diana were later identified with the moon; Selene simply is it, which is an older and more direct kind of divinity.
How the name formed
- selene
- Selene
- Selenia
Related forms: Selene · Selena · Selenia
Pronouncing Selenia
seh-LEE-nee-ah
Four syllables, stress on the second. Some families say seh-LEN-yah in three, which the spelling permits. Greek says Selene in three syllables with the weight in the middle.
Nicknames for Selenia
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
- 1959
- Most girls named
- 199829 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3914reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
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.
Selenia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Selene in Greek — related form
- Selena in Spanish — related form
- Selenia in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Selenias among us
people named Selenia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Selenia
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 Konstantina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Selenia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Konstantina climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Konstantina's path sketches the road Selenia is walking now.
Selenia 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
Selenia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Selenia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is one word and about as clear as a meaning gets.
- Three quite different short forms are available.
- Four open syllables with no hard consonant anywhere.
- It has both a mythological figure and a chemical element behind it.
- Selena and Selina are both far commoner and will be written instead.
- The syllable count is unsettled in American use.
- It is easily confused with Selene, Celina and Selenia's close neighbor Selenna.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Selenia
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Selenias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Selenia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Selenia in 2025?
- Selenia ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Selenia?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Selenia — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Selenia with classmates?
- Selenia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Selenia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Selenia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Selenia and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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