Selene

se-LEEN, se-LEE-ee
Greek
"moon"

Selene Origin and Meaning

The name Selene is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "moon".

Selene may be the mythological Greek original, but Latin variation Selena is used more often in the US these days. Selene is the Greek goddess of the moon, sister of Helios the sun god. Selene is also sometimes called Cynthia and Phoebe. The name may be related to the word selas, which means light, and is one of the loveliest of the Greek goddess names.

# 708 in the US

Selene Rank in US Top 1000

# 432 on Nameberry

Selene Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Selene Popularity

Famous People Named Selene

  • Cleopatra Selene II
    daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, twin sister of Alexander Helios (Helios and Selene are Greek for "sun" and "moon," respectively)
  • Selene Luna
    Mexican actress
  • Selene Here Vigil
    Wilk, American singer of band 7 Year Bitch

Selene in Pop Culture

  • Selene
    character in the Underworld movie franchise
  • Selene Gallio
    villain in X,Men comics
  • Selene
    birth name of Cinder, main character of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series
  • Selene
    sabre,toothed tiger on TV series "Cro"
  • Selene Lindstrom
    character in Isaac Asimov's novel "The Gods Themselves"
  • Selene
    alias used by Lanfear in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series
  • Selene Waites
    character in "Another Thing to Fall" by Laura Lippman
  • "The heathenish given name of this young woman was pronounced as Say
    lay,nay by herself and her father; Aaron later compromised as Say,lane; most people, including the Bois missionaries, called her See,lean. That it was an appellation of the swift moon goddess (something that Aaron never knew and Selene may not have known) was not too unsuitable." [Sinclair Lewis, "The God,seeker," 1949]

Selene in Nameberry Blog Posts