Silvia - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 3 syll. sil-via, si-lv-ia ] The girl name Silvia is pronounced SIHLViyah ^KEY. Silvia is of Latin origin. It is used mainly in English, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. The name Silvia means 'woman of the woods'. Derived from the word silva with the meaning 'wood, forest'. The name was borne in Roman mythology by Rhea Silvia the mother of the legendary founders of Rome, the twins Romulus and Remus. The name was later borne by the mother of Pope Gregory the Great, who was herself a saint. The name has traditionally been used as Italian name, and it was later introduced to English speakers, promoted via various works such as the Shakespeare comedy Two Gentlemen of Verona (1592-1593) and William Congreve's The Old Bachelor (1693). The name saw a revival among English speakers in the 19th century. Silvia is the feminine form of the German Silvius.

Forms of Silvia include the Scandinavian Silva, the Romanian Silvea, the Romanian Silviea, the Slavic Silvija, the Scandinavian Sylvi, the French Sylvie, the French Sylvine, and the Polish Sylwia. Other forms of the name include the German pet form Sile, the English short form Syl, and the English, German, Italian, and Scandinavian spelling variant Sylvia.

Silvia is unusual as a baby girl name. Its usage peaked modestly in 1974 with 0.023% of baby girls being named Silvia. It had a ranking of #497 then. The baby name has fallen out of favor since then, and is of only irregular use today. Among the family of girl names directly related to Silvia, the English, German, Italian, and Scandinavian Sylvia was the most commonly used in 2007.

Baby names that sound like Silvia include the Romanian Silvea, the English, German, Italian, and Scandinavian Sylvia, the German and Italian Salvia, the Slavic Silvija, the English Selby, the English Shelbi, the English Shelbie, the English Shelby, the Scandinavian Silva, the Romanian Silviea, the Scandinavian Sylvi, and the French Sylvie.

^KEY: Pronunciation for Silvia: S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; V as in "vee (V.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"

Popularity Trend
for Silvia
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Silvia
in 2007