Sylvania
Sylvania was last recorded in 1989, when 6 babies were given it; 546 Americans have been recorded with it between 1881 and 1989 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sylvania by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sylvania mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sylvania is “a female given name.”
From sylvan + -ia (suffix forming female given names). Compare Silvana.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sylvania?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #12,177, in 1989; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
18 babies in 1915, the peak
Sylvania peaked in 1915, when 18 girls were given it, #1,875 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 6 | #12,177 | 3.3 |
| 1988 | 8 | #9,142 | 4.5 |
| 1987 | 10 | #7,284 | 5.8 |
| 1982 | 6 | #10,350 | 3.5 |
| 1975 | 7 | #7,855 | 4.8 |
| 1973 | 5 | #9,607 | 3.4 |
| 1972 | 5 | #9,454 | 3.3 |
| 1969 | 6 | #7,355 | 3.6 |
| 1968 | 7 | #6,171 | 4.3 |
| 1966 | 5 | #7,484 | 3.0 |
Every recorded year (72)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 7 | #5,937 | 3.7 |
| 1963 | 7 | #5,822 | 3.6 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,481 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 7 | #5,772 | 3.5 |
| 1960 | 5 | #7,189 | 2.5 |
| 1958 | 7 | #5,343 | 3.5 |
| 1957 | 7 | #5,309 | 3.4 |
| 1956 | 10 | #4,134 | 5.0 |
| 1955 | 10 | #4,027 | 5.1 |
| 1954 | 7 | #5,091 | 3.6 |
| 1953 | 10 | #3,927 | 5.3 |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,501 | 3.2 |
| 1951 | 8 | #4,341 | 4.4 |
| 1950 | 10 | #3,637 | 5.8 |
| 1949 | 5 | #5,964 | 2.9 |
| 1945 | 6 | #4,496 | 4.6 |
| 1944 | 8 | #3,651 | 6.0 |
| 1942 | 7 | #4,082 | 5.2 |
| 1940 | 5 | #4,960 | 4.4 |
| 1939 | 8 | #3,395 | 7.3 |
| 1938 | 6 | #4,295 | 5.4 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,917 | 9.4 |
| 1936 | 9 | #3,081 | 8.7 |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,759 | 6.7 |
| 1933 | 8 | #3,375 | 7.9 |
| 1930 | 7 | #4,001 | 6.2 |
| 1929 | 9 | #3,362 | 8.1 |
| 1928 | 11 | #2,936 | 9.5 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,832 | 6.7 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,778 | 5.1 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,990 | 6.6 |
| 1924 | 8 | #3,966 | 6.4 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,326 | 5.8 |
| 1922 | 16 | #2,370 | 13.3 |
| 1921 | 10 | #3,368 | 8.1 |
| 1920 | 13 | #2,715 | 10.8 |
| 1919 | 5 | #5,468 | 4.4 |
| 1918 | 9 | #3,485 | 7.8 |
| 1917 | 10 | #3,054 | 9.2 |
| 1916 | 13 | #2,478 | 12.4 |
| 1915 | 18 | #1,875 | 18.3 |
| 1914 | 12 | #2,114 | 15.8 |
| 1913 | 10 | #2,143 | 16.0 |
| 1912 | 5 | #3,377 | 9.0 |
| 1910 | 5 | #2,746 | 12.6 |
| 1908 | 7 | #1,836 | 20.9 |
| 1907 | 9 | #1,496 | 28.3 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,929 | 20.3 |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,843 | 21.8 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,767 | 22.9 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,766 | 22.7 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,649 | 25.1 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,770 | 21.3 |
| 1896 | 8 | #1,288 | 33.6 |
| 1895 | 7 | #1,413 | 30.0 |
| 1894 | 6 | #1,470 | 26.9 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,642 | 23.5 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,509 | 26.3 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,453 | 28.0 |
| 1886 | 6 | #1,092 | 41.5 |
| 1884 | 6 | #1,013 | 46.5 |
| 1881 | 6 | #816 | 65.3 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Sylvania a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sylvania has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 72 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Sylvania: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sylvania, and how old are they?
An estimated 179 Americans named Sylvania and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (33% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 54 and 75. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 339 people named Sylvania (304 women and girls, 35 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 210 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 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.
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 6 names spelled alike, given to 4,209 babies since 1880, Sylvania is the third most given (13% of them). In 2025 none of their 60 babies recorded by SSA was a Sylvania (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 Sylvania
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 Sylvania and names like it
- Compare Sylvania and SilvanaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sSylvania peaked in 1915.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sylvania since 1910.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Sylvania.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Sylvania alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.