Sylvia
Featured in baby name books
Sylvia is a Latin name of Roman origin meaning “from the forest,” with variants like Silvia and Sylvie. This classic has fallen out of use for no clear reason, making it a good alternative to Sophia; Silvia is the heroine of Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Notable bearers include suffragette leader Sylvia Pankhurst, who also fought fascism, and writer Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Van Buren is the pastor’s daughter who falls for scientist Clayton Forrester in the 1953 film of The War of the Worlds.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Everything Baby Names Book, Numerology for Baby Names, Badass Baby Names, Sci-Fi Baby Names
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Usage of Sylvia in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Sylvia against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Sylvia is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Sylvia in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 1,017 girls were named Sylvia, making it the #300 girls' name in the US. Since 1880, 245,070 girls have been named Sylvia, with the most (4,371) in 1937. It is most common, relative to births, in Rhode Island, Minnesota and West Virginia.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Sylvia in other languages
- Silvia Dutch, Italian, Latin, Spanish
- Silvija Croatian, Latvian, Lithuanian
- Sylvie Czech, Dutch, French
- Sílvia Catalan, Portuguese
- Sylvi Finnish
- Sylvía Icelandic
Sylvia name days
- August 8 Sweden
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Towns named Sylvia
There are 10 towns and villages with Sylvia in their name, in 2 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 8🇦🇺 Australia 2
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sylvia | Kansas, 🇺🇸 United States | 215 | Map |
| Mount Sylvia | Queensland, 🇦🇺 Australia | 98 | Map |
| Sylvia | Tennessee, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Sylvia | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Sylvia Colonia | Texas, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Sylvia Lane | South Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Sylvia Manor | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Sylvia Park | California, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Sylvia Vale | Queensland, 🇦🇺 Australia | – | Map |
| Sylvia Andrea Colonia | Texas, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Sylvia
There are 23 lakes and reservoirs with Sylvia in their name, in 2 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 12🇨🇦 Canada 11
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Lac Sylvia | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lake Sylvia | Arkansas, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lake Sylvia | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lake Sylvia | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lake Sylvia | California, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Sylvia Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Sylvia Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Sylvia Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Sylvia Lake | Manitoba, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Sylvia Lake | British Columbia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Sylvia songs
6 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Sylvia in their title. The best known:
- Sylvia's Mother – Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (1971)
- Sylvia – Focus (1973)
- Damon und Sylvia (1860)
- Sylvia – Elvis Presley (1972)
- Divertissement - Pizzicato (from the ballet Sylvia) – Léo Delibes (2005)
- Våren och Sylvia komma tillbaka – Ivar Hallström
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Sylvia
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Sylvia.
Sylvia Barlag
Sylvia Burka
Sylvia Chang
Sylvia Day
See more...
Fictional characters named Sylvia
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Sylvia as a pet name
FurryName has found 50 dogs named Sylvia in public pet registers, making it the #2,823 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Framingham (1), Basel (1), Worcester (1). Sylvia as a dog name →
FurryName has found 7 cats named Sylvia in public pet registers, making it the #1,574 cat name there. Most of them are registered in Toronto (4), Seattle (3). Sylvia as a cat name →
Sylvia products
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Sylvia keychain
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Sylvia wall sign
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Sylvia pillow
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