Sylva
Recorded 1886–2025 · United States
Sylva was most popular in 1920, when 37 American babies were given the name — ranking #2,338 that year. In 2025 it ranked #20,040, with 7 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 908 people named Sylva.
Sylva over time
How old is the name Sylva?
Sylva first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1886, which makes it about 139 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 74 of the 140 years since.
How many people are named Sylva?
The Social Security Administration has recorded 908 American births named Sylva between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 153 are estimated to be alive today.
How many babies were named Sylva in 2025?
7 American babies were named Sylva in 2025, ranking #20,040 that year.
Is Sylva getting more or less popular?
Sylva is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 7 births a year across 2021–2025 against 5 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Is Sylva a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Across the whole record Sylva is a girl’s name — 98.0% of the 908 Americans given it were girls and 2.0% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 100% girls and 0% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
How old is someone named Sylva?
Roughly 153 Americans named Sylva are alive today — 17% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 77 years old, and half are between 63 and 87.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
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See Sylva on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org