Silvester
Silvester was last recorded in 2023, when 6 babies were given it; 1,306 Americans have been recorded with it between 1884 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Silvester by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Silvester mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Silvester is “a male given name, variant of Sylvester.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Silvester?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #12,037, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
32 babies in 1960, the peak
Silvester peaked in 1960, when 32 boys were given it, #1,427 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6 | #12,037 | 3.5 |
| 2015 | 6 | #11,875 | 3.1 |
| 2010 | 5 | #13,953 | 2.6 |
| 2007 | 9 | #8,809 | 4.3 |
| 2006 | 9 | #8,616 | 4.4 |
| 2005 | 6 | #11,259 | 3.0 |
| 2004 | 5 | #12,942 | 2.5 |
| 2003 | 8 | #8,504 | 4.0 |
| 2002 | 5 | #12,225 | 2.6 |
| 2001 | 6 | #10,360 | 3.1 |
Every recorded year (106)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 5 | #11,869 | 2.5 |
| 1999 | 9 | #7,016 | 4.7 |
| 1998 | 6 | #9,469 | 3.1 |
| 1997 | 12 | #5,227 | 6.4 |
| 1996 | 8 | #7,021 | 4.2 |
| 1994 | 10 | #5,810 | 5.2 |
| 1993 | 12 | #4,944 | 6.1 |
| 1992 | 9 | #6,062 | 4.5 |
| 1991 | 12 | #4,714 | 5.9 |
| 1990 | 10 | #5,311 | 4.9 |
| 1989 | 8 | #6,135 | 4.0 |
| 1988 | 15 | #3,499 | 7.8 |
| 1987 | 10 | #4,522 | 5.4 |
| 1986 | 11 | #4,084 | 6.0 |
| 1985 | 14 | #3,363 | 7.6 |
| 1984 | 13 | #3,424 | 7.2 |
| 1983 | 7 | #5,404 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 14 | #3,190 | 7.8 |
| 1980 | 7 | #5,437 | 3.9 |
| 1979 | 8 | #4,790 | 4.6 |
| 1978 | 8 | #4,501 | 4.9 |
| 1977 | 13 | #3,176 | 7.9 |
| 1976 | 7 | #4,854 | 4.5 |
| 1975 | 9 | #3,905 | 5.8 |
| 1974 | 8 | #4,136 | 5.1 |
| 1973 | 6 | #5,000 | 3.8 |
| 1972 | 6 | #4,910 | 3.7 |
| 1971 | 7 | #4,318 | 4.0 |
| 1970 | 11 | #3,039 | 5.9 |
| 1969 | 10 | #3,035 | 5.6 |
| 1968 | 11 | #2,707 | 6.3 |
| 1967 | 9 | #2,960 | 5.2 |
| 1966 | 11 | #2,603 | 6.2 |
| 1965 | 14 | #2,255 | 7.5 |
| 1964 | 15 | #2,191 | 7.5 |
| 1963 | 29 | #1,481 | 14.3 |
| 1962 | 20 | #1,842 | 9.7 |
| 1961 | 26 | #1,596 | 12.2 |
| 1960 | 32 | #1,427 | 15.0 |
| 1959 | 17 | #2,028 | 8.0 |
| 1958 | 16 | #2,081 | 7.5 |
| 1957 | 14 | #2,262 | 6.5 |
| 1956 | 20 | #1,806 | 9.5 |
| 1955 | 22 | #1,673 | 10.7 |
| 1954 | 21 | #1,697 | 10.3 |
| 1953 | 16 | #2,027 | 8.1 |
| 1952 | 19 | #1,797 | 9.8 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,041 | 8.0 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,557 | 5.6 |
| 1948 | 14 | #2,104 | 8.0 |
| 1947 | 13 | #2,236 | 7.1 |
| 1946 | 11 | #2,386 | 6.8 |
| 1945 | 17 | #1,685 | 12.6 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,180 | 8.8 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,264 | 8.4 |
| 1942 | 5 | #3,977 | 3.6 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,469 | 8.1 |
| 1940 | 9 | #2,651 | 7.8 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,426 | 9.0 |
| 1938 | 12 | #2,166 | 10.8 |
| 1937 | 6 | #3,484 | 5.6 |
| 1936 | 7 | #3,111 | 6.7 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,379 | 10.6 |
| 1934 | 13 | #2,111 | 12.6 |
| 1933 | 13 | #2,083 | 13.1 |
| 1932 | 16 | #1,915 | 15.3 |
| 1931 | 14 | #2,089 | 13.5 |
| 1930 | 19 | #1,745 | 17.3 |
| 1929 | 27 | #1,407 | 25.1 |
| 1928 | 18 | #1,891 | 16.3 |
| 1927 | 20 | #1,788 | 17.7 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,286 | 12.6 |
| 1925 | 24 | #1,575 | 21.5 |
| 1924 | 20 | #1,831 | 17.7 |
| 1923 | 31 | #1,318 | 28.3 |
| 1922 | 19 | #1,875 | 17.5 |
| 1921 | 19 | #1,890 | 17.3 |
| 1920 | 26 | #1,495 | 24.4 |
| 1919 | 21 | #1,683 | 21.4 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,247 | 13.8 |
| 1917 | 15 | #2,079 | 16.2 |
| 1916 | 17 | #1,838 | 19.1 |
| 1915 | 14 | #2,048 | 16.5 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,673 | 22.9 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,068 | 17.6 |
| 1912 | 9 | #1,867 | 20.9 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,517 | 31.0 |
| 1910 | 12 | #975 | 61.8 |
| 1909 | 5 | #1,655 | 30.5 |
| 1906 | 5 | #1,394 | 37.6 |
| 1904 | 5 | #1,377 | 39.0 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,283 | 41.9 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,194 | 47.0 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,283 | 39.9 |
| 1887 | 6 | #907 | 59.2 |
| 1884 | 7 | #836 | 61.2 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Silvester a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Silvester has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 106 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Silvester: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Silvester, and how old are they?
An estimated 633 Americans named Silvester and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (49% of everyone recorded); the median is 56 years old and half are between 37 and 68. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 888 people named Silvester (2 women and girls, 886 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 701 born in the U.S. The Census count is 27% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 45,314 babies since 1880, Silvester is the second most given (2.9% of them). In 2025 none of their 64 babies recorded by SSA was a Silvester (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Silvester
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Silvester and names like it
- Compare Silvester and SylvesterBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sSilvester peaked in 1960.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Silvester since 1910.
- The top names of 1960The year the most babies were named Silvester.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Silvester alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.