Silvia
Silvia was given to 182 girls in 2025, #1,240 among girls’ names; 21,323 Americans have been recorded with it since 1884 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 18,800 Americans named Silvia and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 25 and 55.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Silvia by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Silvia mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Silvia is “a female given name from Latin.” Its etymology gives the sense “forest” (silva).
Feminine form of Silvius, from Latin silva (“forest”). In myths, Rhea Silvia was the mother of famous twins Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. 6th-century saint Silvia was the mother of the pope Gregory the Great.
/ˈsɪlvi.ə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Silvia?
#1,240 among girls’ names, 2025
Silvia rose from #1,393 in 2015 to #1,240 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.10 to 0.11 per 1,000.
374 babies in 1991, the peak
Silvia peaked in 1991, when 374 girls were given it, #603 among girls’ names. The 182 births of 2025 are 49% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 182 | #1,240 | 0.11 |
| 2024 | 207 | #1,162 | 0.13 |
| 2023 | 163 | #1,385 | 0.10 |
| 2022 | 163 | #1,404 | 0.10 |
| 2021 | 164 | #1,352 | 0.10 |
| 2020 | 157 | #1,397 | 0.10 |
| 2019 | 182 | #1,279 | 0.11 |
| 2018 | 160 | #1,403 | 0.09 |
| 2017 | 144 | #1,533 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 171 | #1,379 | 0.10 |
Every recorded year (138)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 170 | #1,393 | 0.10 |
| 2014 | 199 | #1,232 | 0.11 |
| 2013 | 187 | #1,271 | 0.11 |
| 2012 | 184 | #1,295 | 0.10 |
| 2011 | 188 | #1,271 | 0.11 |
| 2010 | 186 | #1,284 | 0.10 |
| 2009 | 238 | #1,075 | 0.13 |
| 2008 | 205 | #1,235 | 0.11 |
| 2007 | 241 | #1,085 | 0.13 |
| 2006 | 244 | #1,054 | 0.13 |
| 2005 | 248 | #987 | 0.13 |
| 2004 | 235 | #1,006 | 0.13 |
| 2003 | 239 | #972 | 0.13 |
| 2002 | 210 | #1,032 | 0.12 |
| 2001 | 263 | #872 | 0.15 |
| 2000 | 258 | #852 | 0.14 |
| 1999 | 243 | #882 | 0.14 |
| 1998 | 266 | #799 | 0.15 |
| 1997 | 260 | #801 | 0.15 |
| 1996 | 293 | #719 | 0.17 |
| 1995 | 304 | #695 | 0.17 |
| 1994 | 324 | #663 | 0.18 |
| 1993 | 327 | #669 | 0.18 |
| 1992 | 372 | #611 | 0.20 |
| 1991 | 374 | #603 | 0.20 |
| 1990 | 371 | #607 | 0.20 |
| 1989 | 359 | #597 | 0.19 |
| 1988 | 363 | #568 | 0.20 |
| 1987 | 265 | #695 | 0.15 |
| 1986 | 323 | #599 | 0.19 |
| 1985 | 330 | #590 | 0.19 |
| 1984 | 296 | #603 | 0.18 |
| 1983 | 314 | #572 | 0.19 |
| 1982 | 345 | #548 | 0.20 |
| 1981 | 343 | #543 | 0.21 |
| 1980 | 317 | #582 | 0.19 |
| 1979 | 351 | #535 | 0.22 |
| 1978 | 316 | #552 | 0.21 |
| 1977 | 324 | #547 | 0.21 |
| 1976 | 333 | #527 | 0.23 |
| 1975 | 346 | #515 | 0.24 |
| 1974 | 356 | #494 | 0.24 |
| 1973 | 290 | #568 | 0.20 |
| 1972 | 315 | #535 | 0.21 |
| 1971 | 295 | #591 | 0.18 |
| 1970 | 299 | #587 | 0.17 |
| 1969 | 327 | #546 | 0.19 |
| 1968 | 291 | #561 | 0.18 |
| 1967 | 282 | #564 | 0.17 |
| 1966 | 274 | #572 | 0.16 |
| 1965 | 296 | #552 | 0.17 |
| 1964 | 261 | #631 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 251 | #638 | 0.13 |
| 1962 | 265 | #616 | 0.13 |
| 1961 | 269 | #625 | 0.13 |
| 1960 | 229 | #672 | 0.11 |
| 1959 | 246 | #634 | 0.12 |
| 1958 | 251 | #622 | 0.12 |
| 1957 | 255 | #615 | 0.12 |
| 1956 | 235 | #625 | 0.12 |
| 1955 | 232 | #609 | 0.12 |
| 1954 | 135 | #810 | 0.07 |
| 1953 | 131 | #803 | 0.07 |
| 1952 | 130 | #792 | 0.07 |
| 1951 | 127 | #791 | 0.07 |
| 1950 | 99 | #893 | 0.06 |
| 1949 | 94 | #916 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 80 | #974 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 72 | #1,053 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 82 | #925 | 0.05 |
| 1945 | 58 | #1,021 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 58 | #1,037 | 0.04 |
| 1943 | 50 | #1,150 | 0.04 |
| 1942 | 57 | #1,045 | 0.04 |
| 1941 | 44 | #1,130 | 0.04 |
| 1940 | 48 | #1,045 | 0.04 |
| 1939 | 44 | #1,089 | 0.04 |
| 1938 | 46 | #1,068 | 0.04 |
| 1937 | 33 | #1,274 | 0.03 |
| 1936 | 37 | #1,182 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 41 | #1,095 | 0.04 |
| 1934 | 25 | #1,513 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 28 | #1,396 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 15 | #2,225 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 37 | #1,197 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 30 | #1,428 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 22 | #1,752 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 35 | #1,308 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 43 | #1,191 | 0.04 |
| 1926 | 47 | #1,110 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 35 | #1,372 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 28 | #1,638 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 55 | #1,024 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 36 | #1,338 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 42 | #1,202 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 42 | #1,188 | 0.04 |
| 1919 | 54 | #979 | 0.05 |
| 1918 | 43 | #1,151 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 41 | #1,123 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 43 | #1,082 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 34 | #1,187 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 24 | #1,298 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 17 | #1,459 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 30 | #934 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 16 | #1,162 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 19 | #1,026 | 0.05 |
| 1909 | 15 | #1,096 | 0.04 |
| 1908 | 9 | #1,528 | 0.03 |
| 1907 | 11 | #1,275 | 0.03 |
| 1906 | 8 | #1,540 | 0.03 |
| 1905 | 10 | #1,289 | 0.03 |
| 1904 | 5 | #2,135 | 0.02 |
| 1903 | 13 | #1,020 | 0.05 |
| 1902 | 12 | #1,065 | 0.05 |
| 1901 | 10 | #1,125 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 12 | #1,161 | 0.04 |
| 1899 | 12 | #975 | 0.05 |
| 1898 | 9 | #1,246 | 0.03 |
| 1897 | 12 | #974 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,201 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 6 | #1,568 | 0.03 |
| 1894 | 7 | #1,334 | 0.03 |
| 1890 | 7 | #1,188 | 0.04 |
| 1889 | 7 | #1,128 | 0.04 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,451 | 0.03 |
| 1887 | 7 | #1,024 | 0.05 |
| 1886 | 7 | #985 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 6 | #1,011 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Silvia a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Silvia has been given almost only to girls: 51 boys in 138 years of records.
Girls and boys named Silvia: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Silvia, and how old are they?
18,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 21,323 Americans ever recorded as Silvia. The median Silvia alive today is 40 years old; half are between 25 and 55.
The 2020 Census counted 80,787 people named Silvia (80,632 women and girls, 155 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 18,287 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4.4 times 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 242 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,770 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,670 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 5,190 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,670 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,240 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Silvia born?
The states with the most babies named Silvia are California, Texas and Colorado, with 40% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Colorado is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 21 | #1,225 | 3.1× |
| Texas | 17 | #1,453 | 2.2× |
| Colorado | 10 | #580 | 0.4× |
| Virginia | 8 | #921 | 0.2× |
| Ohio | 8 | #1,120 | 0.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 8 | #1,096 | 0.1× |
| Florida | 7 | #1,861 | 0.9× |
| Washington | 7 | #899 | 0.5× |
| New York | 6 | #2,041 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 6 | #1,383 | 1.0× |
Where Silvia is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Silvia is most over-represented in California: since 1910 it was given 3.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Silvia with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 278,411 babies since 1880, Silvia is the second most given (7.7% of them). In 2025 it was given to 182 of their 2,348 babies (7.8%), the third most given that year.
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 Silvia
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 Silvia and names like it
- Compare Silvia and SylviaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sSilvia peaked in 1991.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Silvia since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Silvia: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Silvia.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Silvia alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.