Sylvia

Latin

"from the forest"

Sylvia Origin and Meaning

The name Sylvia is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "from the forest".

The musical, sylvan Sylvia seems poised to join former friends Frances and Beatrice and Dorothy back in the nursery.

Sylvia has been consistently on the popularity list since records started being kept. She was a Top 100 name from 1932 to 1948, reaching a high of Number 48 in 1932.

Spelled Silvia, she was the mother of the twins Remus and Romulus, who were the mythological founders of Rome, and was a character in Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona. The Bard also penned the immortal lines "Who is Silvia? what is she, that all our swains admire her?" -- words echoed in the Edward Albee play The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

Sylvias have also played major roles in Clare Booth Luce's classic play The Women and the Fellini film La Dolce Vita.

Sylvia Plath was the Tragic Heroine of modern poetry.

The French Sylvie is an appealing alternative.

Sylvia Rank in US Top 1000

# 426 in the US

Sylvia Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 188 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Sylvia

• 426 US 2023
• 188 Nameberry 2025
• 427 Future 2028
• 466 England 2023

20 Names Similar to Sylvia

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Sylvia.

• Felicity
• Ramona
• Claudia
• Theodora
• Francesca
• Gwendolyn
• Esther
• Rosalind
• Tabitha
• Helena
• Lucille
• Irene
• Ingrid
• Miriam
• Cecily
• Dorothea
• Colette
• Viola
• Constance
• Fiona

Famous People Named Sylvia

• (Estelle) Sylvia Pankhurst English suffragette and socialist
• Sylvia Plath American poet and novelist
• Sylvia Sidney (born Sophia Kosow) American actress
• Sylvia Peterson American singer of The Chiffons
• Sylvia Shaqueria Fowles American basketball player
• Sylvia Lewis American actress, dancer, and choreographer
• Sylvia Louise Hitchcock Miss USA and Miss Universe 1967
• Sylvia of Hollywood (born Symnove Johanne Waaler) Swedish,American fitness guru to the stars
• Sylvia Celeste Browne American psychic and author
• Sylvia Llewelyn Davies mother of the Davies boys, the inspiration for J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan character
• Sylvia Lucia Peters British television presenter and actress
• (Ai chia) Sylvia Chang, Taiwanese actress/pop singer
• Sylvia Jeffreys Australian journalist and TV presenter
• Sylvia Lim (Swee Lian) Singaporean politician
• Sylvia Moy American songwriter and producer
• Sylvia Rhyne Hatchell American college basketball coach
• Sylvia Alice Earle American marine biologist
• Sylvia Grey Dalton (b. 2012) daughter of actor Brett Dalton
• Sylvia Zamperini sister of WWII POW Louis Zamperini
• Sylvia Rivera transgender woman and LGBT+ activist
• Sylvia Hoeks Dutch actress

The name Sylvia in Pop Culture

• Sylvia ballet by Leo Delibes
• Sylvia character in Graham Greene's "The End of the Affair"
• Sylvia the goat in Edward Albee's "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?"
• Sylvia Fine Fran's mother on TV's "The Nanny"
• Sylvia Garland character in film "The Truman Show"
• Sylvia Parker Jr. character in fictional podcast "Alice Isn't Dead"
• Sylvia Tietjens Christopher's unfaithful Roman Catholic wife, a malicious beauty, in novels by Ford Madox Ford
• Sylvia Fowler character in Clare Booth Luce's "The Women"
• Sylvia Weis character in film "In Time'
• Queen Sylvia ruler of Halloway in "The Black Jewels" trilogy
• Sylvia Redbird character in the 'House Of Night' series by PC Cast
• Sylvia Bennington character in films "Three Men And A Baby" and "Three Men And A Little Lady"
• Sylvia the Zbornak character on TV's "Wander Over Yonder"
• Sylvia Miskin McFly ( aka Trixie Trotter) character in the Back to the Future video game
• "Sylvia's Mother" song by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
• "Sylvia" song by Stevie Wonder
• Sylvia Green one of the two heroines of Joan Aiken's "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase"
• Sylvia Tilly character, Starfleet officer in the TV series, Star Trek: Discovery

International Variations of the name Sylvia

• Silvina Spanish
• Silvia Spanish
• Silvana Spanish
• Silwia Polish
• Silveria Spanish
• Sylvianne French
• Silivia Hawaiian
• Sylvette French
• Silva Italian
• Sylvie French