# Sylvester (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/sylvester/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Latin |
| Meaning | “woody”, “rural”, “wood” |
| Pronunciation | /sɪlˈvɛstɚ/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | Sly |
| Variant spellings | Silvester |
| US babies named this | 43,857 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 43,230 / 627 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 237, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sylvester (“woody, rural”) from silva (“wood”); name of a saint whose feast day falls on December 31.

## What it means

Sylvester is grouped under forest.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1952 | 7 | 4,867 |
| 1953 | 9 | 4,197 |
| 1954 | 7 | 5,094 |
| 1955 | 10 | 4,029 |
| 1956 | 6 | 5,881 |
| 1959 | 8 | 4,985 |
| 1960 | 5 | 7,191 |
| 1962 | 5 | 7,453 |
| 1963 | 7 | 5,824 |
| 1967 | 7 | 5,972 |
| 1968 | 5 | 8,046 |
| 1970 | 7 | 6,976 |
| 1971 | 7 | 7,273 |
| 1972 | 5 | 9,457 |
| 1981 | 6 | 10,241 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 60 | 2,198 |
| 2012 | 57 | 2,290 |
| 2013 | 76 | 1,876 |
| 2014 | 75 | 1,941 |
| 2015 | 73 | 1,999 |
| 2016 | 67 | 2,108 |
| 2017 | 67 | 2,087 |
| 2018 | 66 | 2,139 |
| 2019 | 74 | 1,998 |
| 2020 | 52 | 2,497 |
| 2021 | 68 | 2,128 |
| 2022 | 71 | 2,114 |
| 2023 | 67 | 2,172 |
| 2024 | 71 | 2,114 |
| 2025 | 64 | 2,224 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 13 | 1,688 |
| 2012 | 7 | 2,721 |
| 2013 | 9 | 2,216 |
| 2014 | 7 | 2,690 |
| 2015 | 15 | 1,586 |
| 2016 | 8 | 2,556 |
| 2017 | 10 | 2,172 |
| 2018 | 11 | 1,991 |
| 2019 | 12 | 1,869 |
| 2020 | 12 | 1,825 |
| 2021 | 20 | 1,290 |
| 2022 | 12 | 1,879 |
| 2023 | 18 | 1,407 |
| 2024 | 9 | 2,443 |
| 2025 | 8 | 2,664 |

## In other languages

- Arabic: سيلفستر
- Catalan: Silvestre
- Chinese: 西爾維斯特 /西尔维斯特, 蕭韋斯特 /萧韦斯特
- Czech: Silvestr
- Esperanto: Silvestro
- Estonian: Silver
- French: Sylvestre
- German: Silvester
- Greek: Συλβέστρος
- Hebrew: סִילְבֶסְטֶר
- Hungarian: Szilveszter
- Japanese: シルヴェスター
- Polish: Sylwester
- Portuguese: Silvestre
- Russian: Сильве́стр
- Spanish: Silvestre

## People named Sylvester

- Sylvester Stallone, American actor and filmmaker (born 1946)
- Sylvester Graham, American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer
- Sylvester Groth, German actor and tenor
- Sylvester Stadler, German general (1910–1995)
- Sylvester, American singer-songwriter
- Sylvester Gozzolini, Founder of the Sylvestrines
- Sylvester Turner, American attorney, politician (1954–2025)
- Sylvester James Gates, American physicist
- Sylvester H. Roper, American inventor (1823-1896)
- Sylvester Weaver, American television executive (1908–2002)
- George Sylvester Viereck, German-American writer, poet, propagandist (1884-1962)
- Sylvester Terkay, American professional wrestler

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.