Silvia
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Meaning
of the forest
The story
Silvia is Latin, of the forest, from silva, the woodland word, and it predates Rome itself in legend: Rhea Silvia was the mother of Romulus and Remus, the twins said to have founded the city. Shakespeare gave it a song, Who is Silvia, and Sweden gave it a throne: Silvia Sommerlath, daughter of a German father and a Brazilian mother, was working as a hostess and interpreter at the 1972 Munich Olympics when she met King Carl XVI Gustaf; they married in 1976, and she has since become the longest-serving queen in Swedish history, known especially for her work on behalf of children. In American records Silvia has kept a modest, steady presence across the decades, never booming and never vanishing, always a little more at home in Italian and Spanish-speaking families, where the forest meaning still whispers through.
How popular is Silvia around the world?
In the United States, 1,036 babies were named Silvia between 2020 and 2025. In Spain, 120,455 residents are named Silvia, the 35th most common name among women, with a mean age of 42.3 years.
Silvia is on the official records of the United States, Spain, Brazil, Mexico City, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Montevideo, France, England and Wales, Austria and Poland.
Silvia crosses languages: it is in the latest top 300 of a Spanish-speaking record and of Brazil’s 2022 census, which counts people of every age. The full list: Spanish and Portuguese
United States
1 in 21,000
In the United States, 1,036 babies were named Silvia between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Silvia peaked in the 1950s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Silvia has stayed between 1,036 and 3,290 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Spain
1 in 370
In Spain, 120,455 residents are named Silvia, the 35th most common name among women, with a mean age of 42.3 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
Brazil
1 in 1,100
At the 2022 census, 180,610 people in Brazil were named Silvia, the 185th most common name, with a median age of 49.
Among people named Silvia 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 331 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
Mexico City City
1 in 7,800
In Mexico City, there were 15 registrations of Silvia in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023 (2 registrations through 3 Mar) is excluded as partial. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Chile
1 in 13,000
In Chile, 14 girls were registered as Silvia in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Argentina
1 in 13,000
In Argentina, 52 newborns were given the name Silvia in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Canada
1 in 19,000
In Canada, 19 girls named Silvia were born in 2024, ranked 1,286th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Montevideo City
1 in 25,0002011
In Montevideo, 1 girl named Silvia was born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
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
France
1 in 43,000
In France, about 15 girls named Silvia were born in 2025, ranked 2,088th among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
England and Wales
1 in 49,000
In England and Wales, 12 girls named Silvia were born in 2025, ranked 2,278th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
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
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 girl named Silvia was born in 2025, ranked 1,875th among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
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)
Poland
1 in 120,000
In Poland, 2 girls named Silvia were born in 2025, the 706th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Ireland
last on record 2016
Silvia is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Norway
last on record 2022
Silvia is not on the 2025 record for Norway, where names carried by fewer than 4 people in a year are withheld at source.
share of the girls on the register for that year, SSB’s own figure
People who have or have had a Norwegian ID number, emigrants left out, from Statistics Norway’s name statistics (release of January 2026): by year of birth for 1945–2020 (everyone born that year who was ever registered in Norway, including people who registered later and people who have since died) and by year of naming from 2021; only first names carried by 200 or more living people are listed, counts under 4 are withheld, and SSB merges spellings that differ only by letters outside the Norwegian alphabet. The shares are SSB’s own, of the people of that sex and year in that count; the 2025 figure counts the children named that year, and no year is a count of births. Source: Statistics Norway (SSB), table 10467 (updated 2026-01-28)
Puerto Rico
last on record 1999
Silvia is not on the 2025 record for Puerto Rico, which withholds births under 5, and 5 babies have carried the name there since 1998.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
South Australia
last on record 2014
Silvia is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
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 New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
When you meet Silvia
Most people given the name Silvia in the United States were born between 1960 and 2009. The Silvia you meet today is most often in her 30s or 40s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Where Silvia travels
Mexican American · A documented choice in Mexican American families.
Keep exploring
Mexican American baby names · Names of kings and queens · Familiar but never popular
The Silvia deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Silvia 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 Silvia fits with your family’s names and surname.
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