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Sylva

#13,039 in 2025Girls' name

Wood, forest

Sylva has been given to 908 babies in the U.S. since 1886. In 2025 it ranked #13,039 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1919, with 31 recorded.

Babies named Sylva, 2025

1 in 474,000

Sylva over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sylva: meaning, origin, and history

Wood, forest

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Sylva means

Sylva means “wood, forest”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Sylva is used in Czech and Literature.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈsɪl.va/ for Sylva.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Sylva → Silvia. The family’s meaning is “forest”, recorded in English with the source elements silva.

Origin, language, and formation

Sylva is used in Czech.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Silvia and Sylvia.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Czech, Sylva is pronounced [ˈsɪlva].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 890 girls were recorded with the name Sylva between 1886 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 31 in 1919; its best national rank was #938 in 1891.

In the United States, 18 boys were recorded with the name Sylva between 1918 and 1934. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1934; its best national rank was #3,240 in 1934.

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 Sylva?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 230,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#13,039
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Sylva 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 2025 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 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sylva. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Sylvas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sylva was born before 1921 — so the typical Sylva is around 104 today.

Median birth year
1921
About 104 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
24.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
1.3%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
86
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 24.3% of all recorded uses (216).

Is Sylva 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
22.6%
Peak was 1919 (31)
Years since peak
106
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
35.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#938
1891

Spellings of Sylva

Sylva is not the most common spelling — Sylvia is, with 39.6% against Sylva's 0.14%.

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.

Where Sylva is used

Across 1910–2025, Sylva was most concentrated in Idaho — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 235,575 across all states with data. It was least common in Arkansas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Idaho1 in 100,000
  2. 2Arkansas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Sylva has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Sylva around the world

Where Sylva 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
    2018–2020
    #5,493
    in 2020
  • France
    1902–1976
    #2,741
    in 1976
  • South Australia
    1956–1956
    #540
    in 1956

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.

Sylva by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#13,039
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#938
1891
Peak year
1919
31 that year
First recorded
1886
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
890
Count in 2025
7

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,240
1934
Peak year
1934
7 that year
First recorded
1918
Last recorded
1934
All-time count
18
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Sylva

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

SylviSylvanaSylaSylahSylverSylasSilvaSylivaSylvanNelvaSylenaSylvieSylerBelvaShelvaSylveeSylinaDelvaShalvaMalvaSylvaniaSylarSylwiaVelva

Sibling names for Sylva

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 Sylva

Top names of 1919, Sylva's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1891Girls' names starting with SCzech NamesUncommon Czech Girl Names