Sylvia
Sylvia is ranked 361st among girls in 2024 (863 births). Its best rank was 50th, in 1937.
- Rank in 2024
- #361up 65 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 8630.05% of girls
- Peak year
- 19374,371 births
- Best rank
- #50in 1937
- Since 1880
- 244,041people given the name
The story in the numbers
244,041 girls have been named Sylvia in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1937, with 4,371 births — 0.41% of all girls recorded that year.
It is rising: its share of births is at least one and a half times what it was ten years ago (rank 491 → 361).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1947, and the 1950s alone account for 16%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 36 of them in the top 100.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Sylvia | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,109 | |
| 1890s | 3,025 | |
| 1900s | 5,559 | |
| 1910s | 25,655 | |
| 1920s | 26,841 | |
| 1930s | 33,010 | |
| 1940s | 37,287 | |
| 1950s | 39,540 | |
| 1960s | 28,619 | |
| 1970s | 12,616 | |
| 1980s | 9,323 | |
| 1990s | 6,390 | |
| 2000s | 5,440 | |
| 2010s | 6,042 | |
| 2020s | 3,585 |
In 1937, its biggest year
Sylvia was the 50th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1937 were Mary, Barbara, Patricia, Shirley and Betty. See all of 1937.
Names that rose and fell with Sylvia
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Annpeak 1957
- Lorettapeak 1938
- Robbiepeak 1957
- Edwinapeak 1943
- Jonniepeak 1947
- Jeannettepeak 1917
- Jeanettepeak 1939
- Annepeak 1959
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.