Sylvester
Sylvester is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 71 births. Its best rank was 127th, in 1889.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 710.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 1920807 births
- Best rank
- #127in 1889
- Since 1880
- 43,165people given the name
The story in the numbers
43,165 boys have been named Sylvester in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1920, with 807 births.
The name has all but left use: 71 births in 2024, against 807 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1942, and the 1920s alone account for 16%. It has spent 114 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Sylvester | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 796 | |
| 1890s | 971 | |
| 1900s | 1,343 | |
| 1910s | 5,420 | |
| 1920s | 6,861 | |
| 1930s | 5,138 | |
| 1940s | 5,362 | |
| 1950s | 6,170 | |
| 1960s | 3,840 | |
| 1970s | 2,292 | |
| 1980s | 2,018 | |
| 1990s | 1,213 | |
| 2000s | 735 | |
| 2010s | 677 | |
| 2020s | 329 |
In 1920, its biggest year
Sylvester was the 174th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1920 were John, William, Robert, James and Charles. See all of 1920.
Names that rose and fell with Sylvester
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Otispeak 1920
- Haywoodpeak 1919
- Earnestpeak 1926
- Louispeak 1921
- Ernestpeak 1921
- Clydepeak 1920
- Freemanpeak 1918
- Hermanpeak 1921
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.