Silvestre
Masculine · “of the woods”
Silvestre is of the woods. The Latin silva is a forest, and silvester meant wild in the sense of growing untended, the opposite of cultivated ground; it was a Roman name before it was a papal one, and the pope who carried it through the reign of Constantine made it Christian.
How old is the name Silvestre?
Silvestre first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Silvestre alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 2,000 people named Silvestre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Silvestre most popular?
Silvestre peaked in 1992, reaching #1525 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 3,332 places below that high. See the whole 1992 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From silva to Silvestre
The story of Silvestre
Silvester I was bishop of Rome while Constantine was legalizing Christianity, and later legend gave him a large role in that story which historians do not support; the cult was strong regardless, and his feast on the last day of December still gives several European languages their word for New Year's Eve. The name spread across Catholic Europe and became Silvestre in Spanish and Portuguese, widely given in Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. It reached American records with families from all of those.
Meaning
of the woods; wild, untended
Latin silvester, from silva, a wood or forest. The word described things growing wild rather than planted, and it survives in the English adjective sylvan and in the botanical epithet sylvestris.
How the name formed
- silva
- silvester
- Silvestre
Related forms: Silvestro · Sylvester · Sylvestre · Sylwester · Silvester
Pronouncing Silvestre
seel-VES-treh
Three syllables, stress in the middle, all vowels open. English speakers reach for Sylvester, which is the same name with an English shape.
Nicknames for Silvestre
High
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 199460 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1525reached in 1992
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%20 in 2025, from 20
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.
Silvestre in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Silvestro in Italian — same name
- Sylvester in English — same name
- Sylvestre in French — same name
- Sylwester in Polish — same name
- Silvester in German — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California.
Silvestres among us
people named Silvestre are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Silvestre
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Quitman test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Silvestre's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Quitman climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Quitman's path sketches the road Silvestre is walking now.
Silvestre 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
Silvestre beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Silvestre 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 single clear image, and one that has been in the language for two thousand years.
- It has several established short forms, from the Mexican Chevo to the English Sly.
- It works in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French households with small changes only.
- English readers will say Sylvester, which is close but is a different name on paper.
- In American English the name carries a cartoon cat association that follows it around.
- Three syllables with a consonant cluster in the middle gets flattened in English speech.
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What they receive
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Silvestre
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Silvestres are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Silvestre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Silvestre in 2025?
- Silvestre ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Silvestre?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Silvestre — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Silvestre with classmates?
- Silvestre will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Silvestre
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Russ#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Aloysius#4857
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Silvestre? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Silvestre and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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