Silver
Masculine · “the metal silver”
Silver is given to both — 528 boys and 1,749 girls since 1880. See Silver as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Silver is one of the oldest words in English, old enough that its origin is lost: it does not come from Latin or Greek like most metal names, and its Germanic form has no convincing ancestor. It has been a surname, a place name and, in nineteenth-century America, a name given to sons.
How old is the name Silver?
Silver first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Silver alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 400 people named Silver are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Silver most popular?
Silver peaked in 1896, reaching #722 nationally. Today it ranks #5045, 4,323 places below that high. See the whole 1896 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From seolfor to Silver
The story of Silver
English surnames from metals are uncommon but real, given to smiths and traders and to people who lived at a sign. As a first name Silver appears in American records from the nineteenth century, part of the same habit that produced Ruby, Pearl and Golda; the western mining boom of the eighteen-seventies gave the word a particular charge in American English. It has come back in the last decade, along with a wider set of color and material names for children.
Meaning
the metal silver
Old English seolfor, with cognates across all the Germanic and Baltic and Slavic languages. Where the word itself came from is genuinely unknown; it appears to have been borrowed into that whole group from something older, possibly a language of Asia Minor where the metal was mined.
How the name formed
- seolfor
- silver
- Silver
Related forms: Silber · Zilver
Pronouncing Silver
SIL-vur
Two syllables, stress in front, exactly as the metal. There is no other reading.
Nicknames for Silver
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1896
- Most boys named
- 202423 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #722reached in 1896
- Change vs 2024
- −17.4%19 in 2025, from 23
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Silver in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Silber in German — related form
- Zilver in Dutch — related form
Silvers among us
people named Silver are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 89,899 born in 2025 was named Silver
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Silver sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Silver beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Silver in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a material anyone can picture and hold.
- Everyone can spell it and say it after hearing it once.
- It works for a child of either sex, which some families want.
- It is a word in daily use, so the child hears his own name in unrelated sentences.
- It carries a strong association with second place, which will come up.
- There is no traditional short form, so a family that wants one will be inventing it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Silver to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Silver
Masculine · #5045 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Silvers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Silver are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Silver in 2025?
- Silver ranks #5045 among US boy names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Silver?
- About 1 in every 89,899 US boys born in 2025 was named Silver — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Silver with classmates?
- Silver will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Silver
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Daymon#5045 · Thierry#5045 · Mehmet#5045 · Tyrel#5045 · Teague#5045 · Zeyad#5045 · Tavares#5045 · Gardner#5045
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Silver? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Silver and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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