Selene (given name)

{{Infobox given name2

| name = Selene

|image= Selene and Endymion by Victor Florence Pollett.jpg

|image_size=

|caption= Selene and Endymion by Victor Florence Pollett

| pronunciation = {{IPA|el|selɛ̌ːnɛː|}}

| gender = Female

| meaning = Moon

| name day = April 2

| language = Greek

| seealso = Helen

}}

Selene is a female given name taken from Selene (Greek Σελήνη, {{IPA|el|selɛ̌ːnɛː|}}, 'moon') in Greek mythology. Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia.Bibliotheke of Pseudo-Apollodorus, 1.2.2; Hesiod gives a list of the offspring of Hyperion and Theia in Theogony, lines 371ff. In the Homeric Hymn to Helios, Theia is given the name Euryphaessa, the "far-shining" one, an epithet that would apply to Selene herself. Her equivalent in ancient Roman religion and myth is Luna, Latin for "moon."

The etymology of Selene is uncertain, but if the word is of Greek origin, it is likely connected to the word selas (σέλας), meaning "brightness".Kerenyi, Karl (1951) The Gods of the Greeks (pp. 19, 197). 1951.