Seren
Feminine · “star”
Seren is given to both — 1,026 girls and 55 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Seren is the Welsh word for star, plain and unadorned. It is one of the most-used girls' names in Wales today and it does in two syllables and five letters what Estelle and Stella need more room for.
How old is the name Seren?
Seren first appears in US birth records in 1981 — 44 years ago. The typical Seren is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,000 people named Seren are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Seren most popular?
Seren peaked in 2016, reaching #2761 nationally. Today it ranks #3167, 406 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Seren appears on this list:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Seren
Welsh naming took a strong turn towards plain Welsh vocabulary in the twentieth century — words for landscape, weather and light used directly as names — and Seren belongs squarely to that movement rather than to the older bardic tradition. It rose sharply in Wales from the 1990s and has been at or near the top of the Welsh charts since. It appears in American records in small numbers, sometimes from Welsh families and sometimes as a shortening of Serena.
Meaning
star
The ordinary Welsh noun for a star; the plural is ser, and the word is related to the Latin and Greek words for star through their common ancestor.
Pronouncing Seren
SEH-ren
Two syllables, first stressed, both vowels short. Americans often say suh-REN, on the model of Serena.
Nicknames for Seren
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
- 201662 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2761reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- +66.7%50 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.
Seren in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Seren in Welsh — same name
- Steren in Cornish — related form
- Sterenn in Breton — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Serens among us
people named Seren are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 32,145 born in 2025 was named Seren
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Seren
- #3167
- Seren on the 2025 chart
- #888
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Seren went to 50 girls in 2025, but Sereen is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 72, which makes it the 888th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,279 places above the chart.
- Seren50
- Sereen22
About 1 girl in 22,323 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 32,145 for Seren 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 Sonnie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Seren's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sonnie climbed just as high around 1944, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sonnie's path sketches the road Seren is walking now.
Seren 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 Seren is headed
Seren 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.
Seren beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Seren in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled, concrete meaning in a living language — it is simply the word for star.
- Five letters and two easy syllables, with no sound difficult for English speakers.
- Extremely well established in Wales, so it has a real community behind it.
- Americans will hear Serena and shorten accordingly, and the stress will migrate.
- Seren, Sarah and Siren are all near it on a bad phone line, and the last one will be joked about.
- Outside Wales it needs a sentence of explanation, which is a small but permanent tax.
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What they receive
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Seren
Feminine · #3167 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Serens 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 Seren are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Seren?
- Seren is the most-used spelling in US records — 50 of the 72 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Sereen.
- How popular is the name Seren in 2025?
- Seren ranks #3167 among US girl names in 2025, with 50 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Seren?
- About 1 in every 32,145 US girls born in 2025 was named Seren — 50 in all.
- Will my child share the name Seren with classmates?
- Seren will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Seren
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lulu#3167 · Lucina#3167 · Irma#3167 · Leyna#3167 · Skylee#3167 · Amairani#3167 · Jorja#3167 · Jozie#3167
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Seren? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Seren and another name?
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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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