Selin
Feminine · “moon”
Selin is Turkish, and its reading is genuinely double: the Greek moon on one side, and the Turkish word for a flash flood on the other.
How old is the name Selin?
Selin first appears in US birth records in 1981 — 44 years ago. The typical Selin alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,000 people named Selin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Selin most popular?
Selin peaked in 1999, reaching #2991 nationally. Today it ranks #3903, 912 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Selin
Ours, offered as ours. Turkish naming draws from several stocks at once — Arabic, Persian, Greek and native Turkish — and a name can genuinely belong to two of them. Sel is the ordinary Turkish word for a flash flood, which in Anatolia is a serious and sudden thing rather than a metaphor. Selene is the Greek moon. A name that means either a moon or a torrent depending on which language you stand in is a real feature of Turkish naming rather than a confusion.
Meaningscholars disagree
moon; or torrent
One reading takes it from Greek Selene, the moon, by way of the widely used Turkish name Selin. Another builds it on Turkish sel, a flood or torrent, with a possessive ending — your torrent. Both circulate and neither is settled.
Pronouncing Selin
seh-LEEN
Two syllables with the stress on the second. English speakers often say SEL-in.
Nicknames for Selin
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
- 1981
- Most girls named
- 200645 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2991reached in 1999
- Change vs 2024
- +23.3%37 in 2025, from 30
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.
Selin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Selin in Turkish — same name
- Selene in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Florida.
Selins among us
people named Selin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 43,440 born in 2025 was named Selin
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 Leandrea test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Selin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leandrea climbed just as high around 1984, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leandrea's path sketches the road Selin is walking now.
Selin 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 Selin is headed
Selin 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.
Selin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Selin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two real readings, Greek and Turkish, both with good images behind them.
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Very widely used in Turkey, so it has a large community behind it.
- The stress moves to the front in English mouths.
- Selin, Selina and Celine are all close and get confused.
- The two readings mean quite different things.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Selin
Feminine · #3903 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Selins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Selin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Selin in 2025?
- Selin ranks #3903 among US girl names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Selin?
- About 1 in every 43,440 US girls born in 2025 was named Selin — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Selin with classmates?
- Selin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Selin
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 Selin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Selin and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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