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Silke

Girls' name

Diminutive of Cäcilie

Silke has been given to 48 babies in the U.S. since 1966. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1969, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Silke, 2005

1 in 641,000

Silke over time, 1880–2025

Girls
0246818801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Silke: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Cäcilie

Low German and West Frisian

What Silke means

Silke is a diminutive of Cäcilie.

Origin, language, and formation

Silke is used in German. Its origins include Low German and West Frisian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Cäcilie.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 48 girls were recorded with the name Silke between 1966 and 2005. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1969; its best national rank was #5,900 in 1969.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Silke?

Silke had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2005, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2005
1 in 641,000
6 of 3,844,258 births
Among girls only
1 in 308,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2005
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
444,107 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Silke sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2005 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 444,107 children born in 2005 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Silke. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Silkes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Silke was born before 1974 — so the typical Silke is around 51 today.

Median birth year
1974
About 51 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
39.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
37.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
48
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 39.6% of all recorded uses (19).

Is Silke rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1969 (8)
Years since peak
56
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
20.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,900
1969

Spellings of Silke

Silke is not the most common spelling — Rilee is, with 16.7% against Silke's 0.24%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Silke around the world

Where Silke ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2006
    #3,116
    in 2006
  • France
    1994–1994
    #2,901
    in 1994
  • South Australia
    1958–1998
    #710
    in 1998

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Silke by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,900
1969
Peak year
1969
8 that year
First recorded
1966
Last recorded
2005
All-time count
48
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Silke

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

SilahSilkaSiloeSilasSiljeSilpaSilviSillerSilbiaSilvieSiliaSiljaSilyaMalkeSilenaSilaSilkenSillaSilvyaSilinaSilkSilvinaSilayahSiloam

Sibling names for Silke

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Silke

Top names of 1969, Silke's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1969Girls' names starting with SUncommon German Girl Names