Sylvia
2025 SSA
Below 5 births
About Sylvia
The musical, sylvan Sylvia seems poised to join former friends Frances and Beatrice and Dorothy back in the nursery.
Sylvia has been consistently on the popularity list since records started being kept. She was a Top 100 name from 1932 to 1948, reaching a high of Number 48 in 1932.
Spelled Silvia, she was the mother of the twins Remus and Romulus, who were the mythological founders of Rome, and was a character in Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona. The Bard also penned the immortal lines "Who is Silvia? what is she, that all our swains admire her?" -- words echoed in the Edward Albee play The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?
Sylvias have also played major roles in Clare Booth Luce's classic play The Women and the Fellini film La Dolce Vita.
Sylvia Plath was the Tragic Heroine of modern poetry.
The French Sylvie is an appealing alternative.
Sylvia is also given to boys.
Pronounced SIL-vee-ah.
As of October 2026, Sylvia ranked #300 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #50 in 1937, Nameberry popularity #195.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank · girls | Births · girls | US rank · boys | Births · boys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #491 | 636 | — | 0 |
| 2015 | #484 | 662 | — | 0 |
| 2016 | #503 | 621 | — | 0 |
| 2017 | #484 | 646 | — | 0 |
| 2018 | #492 | 633 | — | 0 |
| 2019 | #511 | 616 | — | 0 |
| 2020 | #502 | 605 | — | 0 |
| 2021 | #466 | 673 | — | 0 |
| 2022 | #438 | 720 | — | 0 |
| 2023 | #426 | 724 | — | 0 |
| 2024 | #361 | 863 | — | 0 |
| 2025 | #300 | 1,017 | — | 0 |
World rankings
Sylvia for girls
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Sylvia.
Sylvia on lists
Famous Sylvias
- (Estelle) Sylvia PankhurstGirl
English suffragette and socialist
- Sylvia PlathGirl
American poet and novelist
- Sylvia Sidney (born Sophia Kosow)Girl
American actress
- Sylvia PetersonGirl
American singer of The Chiffons
- Sylvia Shaqueria FowlesGirl
American basketball player
- Sylvia LewisGirl
American actress, dancer, and choreographer
- Sylvia Louise HitchcockGirl
Miss USA and Miss Universe 1967
- Sylvia of Hollywood (born Symnove Johanne Waaler)Girl
Swedish,American fitness guru to the stars
- Sylvia Celeste BrowneGirl
American psychic and author
- Sylvia Llewelyn DaviesGirl
mother of the Davies boys, the inspiration for J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan character
- Sylvia Lucia PetersGirl
British television presenter and actress
- (AiGirl
chia) Sylvia Chang, Taiwanese actress/pop singer
- Sylvia JeffreysGirl
Australian journalist and TV presenter
- Sylvia Lim (Swee Lian)Girl
Singaporean politician
- Sylvia MoyGirl
American songwriter and producer
- Sylvia Rhyne HatchellGirl
American college basketball coach
- Sylvia Alice EarleGirl
American marine biologist
- Sylvia Grey Dalton (b. 2012)Girl
daughter of actor Brett Dalton
- Sylvia ZamperiniGirl
sister of WWII POW Louis Zamperini
- Sylvia RiveraGirl
transgender woman and LGBT+ activist
- Sylvia HoeksGirl
Dutch actress
Sylvia in pop culture
- SylviaGirl
ballet by Leo Delibes
- SylviaGirl
character in Graham Greene's "The End of the Affair"
- SylviaGirl
the goat in Edward Albee's "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?"
- Sylvia FineGirl
Fran's mother on TV's "The Nanny"
- Sylvia GarlandGirl
character in film "The Truman Show"
- Sylvia Parker Jr.Girl
character in fictional podcast "Alice Isn't Dead"
- Sylvia TietjensGirl
Christopher's unfaithful Roman Catholic wife, a malicious beauty, in novels by Ford Madox Ford
- Sylvia FowlerGirl
character in Clare Booth Luce's "The Women"
- Sylvia WeisGirl
character in film "In Time'
- Queen SylviaGirl
ruler of Halloway in "The Black Jewels" trilogy
- Sylvia RedbirdGirl
character in the 'House Of Night' series by PC Cast
- Sylvia BenningtonGirl
character in films "Three Men And A Baby" and "Three Men And A Little Lady"
- Sylvia the ZbornakGirl
character on TV's "Wander Over Yonder"
- Sylvia Miskin McFly ( aka Trixie Trotter)Girl
character in the Back to the Future video game
- "Sylvia's Mother"Girl
song by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
- "Sylvia"Girl
song by Stevie Wonder
- Sylvia GreenGirl
one of the two heroines of Joan Aiken's "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase"
- Sylvia TillyGirl
character, Starfleet officer in the TV series, Star Trek: Discovery
- “Sylvia”Girl
Song by Elvis Presley