Sylvanus
Native of the woods, associated with wooded landscapes or sylvan deities.
Name Census estimates that about 196 living Americans carry the first name Sylvanus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sylvanus today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sylvanus births was 1915 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sylvanus. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
196
~ 1 in 1,748,747 Americans
Peak year
1915
15 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,738
Tracked since 1880
Census
Sylvanus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 477 people with the first name Sylvanus, which placed it at #21,336 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#21,336
National first-name rank
People counted
477
477 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sylvanus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sylvanus is Black at 64.2%. The next largest groups are White (29.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sylvanus described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sylvanus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.2% · 306
- White29.6% · 141
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 7
- Two or more races1.5% · 7
Popularity
Sylvanus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sylvanus from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 97 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sylvanus by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Sylvanus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sylvanus
The given name Sylvanus has its origins in Latin, deriving from the word "silva" meaning "forest" or "wood". It was originally a Roman name associated with the god Silvanus, who was the protector of woods and uncultivated lands in ancient Roman mythology.
The name Sylvanus likely emerged during the early days of ancient Rome, sometime around the 8th century BC, when the Romans were a largely agricultural society. It would have been given to children as a way of honoring the deity Silvanus and seeking his blessings for protection and prosperity in the rural, forested areas where many lived.
In ancient Roman texts and inscriptions, references to individuals bearing the name Sylvanus can be found, indicating its usage among the Roman people. One notable example is Sylvanus of Emesa, a 4th century philosopher and teacher of rhetoric who was a tutor to the Roman emperor Julian.
Over the centuries, various spellings and variations of the name emerged, such as Silvanus, Sylvan, and Silvan, reflecting the evolution of languages and cultural influences. Some of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Sylvanus include:
1) Publius Valerius Sylvanus, a Roman senator and consul who lived in the 2nd century AD.
2) Sylvanus of Thessalonica, a 4th century Christian martyr and saint.
3) Sylvanus Philagrius, a 5th century bishop of Antioch.
4) Sylvanus of Iona, a 6th century Irish monk and one of the founders of the monastic community on the island of Iona, Scotland.
5) Sylvanus Morgan, a 17th century Welsh scholar and clergyman (1620-1693).
While the name Sylvanus has declined in popularity in modern times, it has left a lasting legacy in various fields, including literature, art, and music, where it has been used as a symbolic representation of the natural world and a connection to the ancient Roman traditions.
People
Sylvanus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sylvanus as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sylvanus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sylvanus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 196 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sylvanus going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,748,747 US residents.
Is Sylvanus a common name?
We classify Sylvanus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 465 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sylvanus most popular?
The single biggest year for Sylvanus was 1915, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sylvanus is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sylvanus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 477 people with the name Sylvanus, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,336 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sylvanus in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sylvanus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sylvanus appears almost entirely male. Of the 476 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sylvanus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sylvanus is Black at 64.2%. The next largest groups are White (29.6%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (1.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sylvanus most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sylvanus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.2% (306 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sylvanus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sylvanus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sylvanus in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Sylvanus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sylvanus in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sylvanus can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Sylvanus?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Sylvanus at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.