nametree
← Sylvibrowse · build a nametreeSylviane →

Sylvia

girl name
Origin
Latin
Syllables
3
Peak era
1900s/2020s
Today
▬ Steady

Torn between Sylvia and another name? Compare them side by side →

Meaning

"of the forest, wood"

Goes by Sylvie. See all nicknames

Famously borne by Sylvia Earle, the oceanographer they call Her Deepness. Famously borne by Sylvia Rivera, who co-founded STAR and spoke for the people her own movement left behind.

The story

Sylvia comes from the Latin silva, meaning forest or woodland, so at its heart it is a name of green shade and wild places. It is genuinely ancient: in Roman legend Rhea Silvia was the mother of Romulus and Remus, which makes a Sylvia, in a sense, the grandmother of Rome itself. Shakespeare wrote a song around it, Who is Silvia, what is she, and centuries later the poet Sylvia Plath gave the name a fierce, brilliant modern weight. So it holds the forest, the founding of a city and a great voice in poetry. In the United States Sylvia was a classic early in the twentieth century and reads as current again now, riding the return of vintage names, with the soft short form Sylvie. Leafy, lyrical and quietly strong, Sylvia hands a child the whole green world and a place in some very old and very good stories.

More names with stories →

Sylvia across languages

One shared root links 4 names across 3 languages.

Shared root: from Latin silva "forest, wood", the root shared by Silvia and the woodland names Silvanus and Silvester

The constellation

SylviaEnglishSylvieFrench

More branches

SylvesterLatin · related formSylvanEnglish · related form

Sylvia in song

Sylvia's Mother
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (1972)
Shel Silverstein turned a real phone call into a small tragedy, a man on a payphone being politely told the girl he loves is marrying someone else.

How popular is Sylvia around the world?

In the United States, 4,608 babies were named Sylvia between 2020 and 2025. In New Zealand, 15 girls named Sylvia were registered in 2025.

Sylvia is on the official records of the United States, New Zealand, England and Wales, Norway, Canada, Scotland, South Australia, Spain, Brazil, France and Chile.

United States

1 in 4,700

In the United States, 4,608 babies were named Sylvia between 2020 and 2025.

peak 1900s2020s

Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Sylvia peaked in the 1900s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.

Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration

See the full list for the United States →

New Zealand

1 in 3,800

In New Zealand, 15 girls named Sylvia were registered in 2025.

peak 19272025

share of that year’s name registrations

First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time

See the full list for New Zealand →

England and Wales

1 in 6,200

In England and Wales, 95 girls named Sylvia were born in 2025, the 426th most common name among girls that year.

1996peak 2025

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

See the full list for England and Wales →

Norway

1 in 6,700 · register 2026

In Norway, 4 girls were given the name Sylvia in 2025.

1945peak 19772025

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)

See the full list for Norway →

Canada

1 in 6,900

In Canada, 53 girls named Sylvia were born in 2024, the 549th most common name among girls that year.

peak 19952024

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)

See the full list for Canada →

Scotland

1 in 9,200

In Scotland, 5 girls named Sylvia were registered in 2024, the 541st most common name among girls that year.

peak 19762024

share of that year’s name registrations

Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names

See the full list for Scotland →

South Australia

1 in 18,000 · 2017

In South Australia, 1 girl was registered as Sylvia in 2017.

peak 19442017

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

See the full list for South Australia →

Spain

1 in 34,000

In Spain, 1,328 residents are named Sylvia, ranked 1,236th among women, with a mean age of 52 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

See the full list for Spain →

Brazil

1 in 59,000

At the 2022 census, 3,546 people in Brazil were named Sylvia, ranked 3,475th, with a median age of 59.
Among people named Sylvia living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.

1930speak 1960s2010s

people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth

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

See the full list for Brazil →

France

1 in 130,000

In France, about 5 girls named Sylvia were born in 2025, ranked 4,101st among girls that year.

1900peak 19772025

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)

See the full list for France →

Chile

1 in 180,000

In Chile, 1 girl was registered as Sylvia in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.

peak 19372021

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

See the full list for Chile →

Austria

last on record 2024

Sylvia is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.

peak 19842025

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)

See the full list for Austria →

Ireland

last on record 2024

Sylvia is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.

peak 19722025

share of that year’s name registrations

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

See the full list for Ireland →

Mexico City City

last on record 2020

Sylvia is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.

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, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023

See the full list for Mexico City →

Montevideo City

last on record 2000

Sylvia is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.

1940peak 19622011

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

See the full list for Montevideo →

Poland

last on record 2022

Sylvia is not on the 2025 record for Poland, where names given fewer than 2 times in a year are withheld at source.

peak 20002025

share of that year’s name registrations

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)

See the full list for Poland →

Puerto Rico

last on record 2002

Sylvia is not on the 2025 record for Puerto Rico, which withholds births under 5, and 17 babies have carried the name there since 1998.
The count never rose above 7 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)

See the full list for Puerto Rico →

Not on the record in Argentina: that registry withholds small counts, so rare uses may sit below its floor.

All records: the most popular baby names around the world →

When you meet Sylvia

People given the name Sylvia in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 1989. 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.

Names that fit alongside Sylvia

Maris Laurene Garnet Lucy Ruby Marina

Where Sylvia travels

Jewish American · A documented choice in Jewish American families.

Keep exploring

Names like Sylvia · Nicknames for Sylvia · Jewish American baby names · Names of explorers and adventurers · Names of revolutionaries and liberators

Name trails: explore connections from Sylvia →

The Sylvia deep dive

Written for you · $1.99 →

Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Sylvia 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 Sylvia fits with your family’s names and surname.

Both reports, explained →

Does Sylvia fit YOUR family?

nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.

Add Sylvia to your family’s tree →
BROWSEAll traditions👶 Baby namesAround the worldAll names🔍 Search a nameName storiesThree-letter namesShort namesVintage revivalsGender-neutralPolishJapaneseCantoneseIrishKoreanIndianMexican American
🌐English ✓EspañolPortuguês
nametree on your phoneDownload on the App StoreGet it on Google Play