Silva
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Meaning
from Latin silva, forest; the most common surname in Brazil, a Portuguese classic, and a feminine given name in Armenia
The story
Silva comes from the Latin silva, forest or woodland, and began as a Portuguese and Galician surname for people who lived near the trees. Portuguese colonizers carried it to Brazil, where it became, and remains, the single most common surname in the country, held by tens of millions. Part of that reach traces to a hard history: after the Lei Aurea abolished slavery in 1888, many newly freed people took Silva as they began life under their own names. The word lives as a first name too. In Armenia, Silva is a feminine classic, borne by the beloved twentieth-century poet Silva Kaputikyan, who was born Sirvard and chose it. A name that started as a patch of forest now belongs, more than almost any other, to a whole nation.
How popular is Silva around the world?
In the United States, 16 babies were named Silva between 2020 and 2025. At the 2022 census, 18,419 people in Brazil were named Silva, ranked 1,122nd, with a median age of 48.
Silva is on the official records of the United States, Brazil, Austria and Spain.
United States
1 in 1.4M
In the United States, 16 babies were named Silva between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Silva has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Brazil
1 in 11,000
At the 2022 census, 18,419 people in Brazil were named Silva, ranked 1,122nd, with a median age of 48.
Among people named Silva living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1970s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 33 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 girl named Silva was born in 2025, ranked 1,875th among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Spain
1 in 550,000
In Spain, 81 residents are named Silva, ranked 9,253rd among women, with a mean age of 50.5 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
England and Wales
last on record 2023
Silva is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Montevideo City
last on record 1993
Silva is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
South Australia
last on record 1953
Silva is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Silva
People given the name Silva in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1960 to 1999. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Silva deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Silva truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Silva fits with your family’s names and surname.
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