Selena is a form of the Greek Selene, the goddess of the moon, and means "moon" or "moonlight". In the United States it is forever linked to the Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, whose death in 1995 made the name a tribute in many Mexican-American families, and to Selena Gomez, who was named after her. Selena was number 194 in 2000, dipped to number 321 in 2015 and has recovered to number 268 among girls' names in 2025.