girl's name
Luna
LOO-nuh
- Origin Latin
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 100 (US)
- Births on record 139,840
the United States
#27
2025 births
Luna is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "moon." It was the name of the Roman goddess of the moon, counterpart to the Greek Selene, and the same word gives English lunar, lunatic, and the lunar month.
- Luna is a name of Latin origin.
- Peaked in 2022, when 8,992 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 545 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Luna over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 168 |
| 1890s | 278 |
| 1900s | 298 |
| 1910s | 419 |
| 1920s | 414 |
| 1930s | 173 |
| 1940s | 91 |
| 1950s | 44 |
| 1960s | 29 |
| 1970s | 67 |
| 1980s | 115 |
| 1990s | 552 |
| 2000s | 4,737 |
| 2010s | 34,224 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 46,225 |
What Luna means
Luna means moon, taken directly from the Latin. In Roman religion the moon was personified as a goddess of that name, worshipped alongside Sol, so the name carries a mythological weight as well as a plainly astronomical one.
Where Luna comes from
Luna comes from the Latin luna, meaning moon, from an older Indo-European root connected with light and shining — the same root behind lux. In Roman religion Luna was the moon goddess, often paired with Sol and identified with the Greek Selene and later with Diana. The word left a long trail in English: lunar, lunation, and lunatic, the last from a medieval belief that phases of the moon caused episodes of madness. As a given name Luna remained rare in English until recent decades, though it has a longer history in Spanish and Italian, where the word for moon and the name are identical.
Luna in use
The English word lunatic preserves a medieval belief that the moon governed episodes of madness.
How popular is Luna?
In 2025, Luna was given to 6,085 babies in the United States, ranking #27 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Where Luna is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Luna is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Lùna | Lùna is Luna written with a grave accent, used in France, where it ranks #1,125. | 480 |
| Lüna | Lüna is Luna written with a diaeresis, used in France, where it ranks #1,554. | 245 |
| Lûna | Lûna is a rare spelling of Luna, written with a circumflex and recorded about 45 times, mostly in France. | 45 |
| Lúna | Lúna is a rare spelling of Luna, written with a fada and recorded 15 times, mostly in Ireland. | 15 |
| Lunä | Lunä is a rare spelling of Luna, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 5 times, mostly in France. | 5 |
Names that peaked alongside Luna
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Luna also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Luna over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Luna
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Luna in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Luna
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Luna — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Luna
What does the name Luna mean?
Luna means "moon," directly from the Latin word.
Was Luna a goddess?
Yes. Luna was the Roman goddess of the moon, equivalent to the Greek Selene.
Is Luna related to the word lunatic?
Both come from the Latin luna, reflecting a medieval belief that the moon's phases affected the mind.
How popular is the name Luna?
In 2025, Luna was given to 6,085 babies in the United States, ranking #27 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Is Luna a girl's or a boy's name?
Luna is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Luna?
Luna has 2 syllables.
When was Luna most popular?
Luna peaked in 2022, when 8,992 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Luna?
Luna is usually shortened to Lu.
Is Luna a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Luna currently ranks #27 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.