The baby name Sylvie is a fast-rising favorite, a name with ancient roots and twenty-first century appeal.
Thanks to Elise for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME SYLVIE MEAN?
In English, the most familiar form of the name is Sylvia. It comes from the Latin word silva – forest or woods.
The name Silvia features in Roman mythology.
The story goes like this: born a princess, Rhea Silvia becomes caught in a power struggle in the ancient world. She’s mom to twin sons, Romulus and Remus. Tragedy follows, but the brothers ultimately triumph, founding the eternal city of Rome. She’s the mother of Romulus, and through him, the city itself.
It’s an ancient name for a second reason, thought this time it’s the male form: Silvius.
It’s said that a King of Alba Longa ruled the region before Romulus and Remus founded their city. A dynasty known as the Silvii ruled, with kings named Silvius, Aeneas Silvius, and Latinus Silvius.
It’s possible they were invented from scratch, and also possible they’re based on some fragment of truth.
The name stayed in use as the ancient world developed.
Fast forward hundreds of years later, and around the year 540 BC another Silvia gave birth to the future Saint Gregory the Great. She’s also considered a saint.
If the name wasn’t already in use across Europe, the saint ensured that it caught on.
Related names like Sylvester, Sylvanus, and Silvio are manong the many variations. The baby name Sylvie is simply the French form of Sylvia.
TWO GENTLEMEN AND A POP STAR
Credit Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona with introducing Silvia to an English-speaking audience by the 1590s.
Lewis Carroll gave the name to a character in a series of books called Sylvie and Bruno in the nineteenth century. She’s the princess of Fairyland.
In France, singer Sylvie Vartan’s success prompted a wave of Sylvies that peaked in the 1960s. Born in Bulgaria, Vartan scored her first hit in 1961, and kept recording hits into the 1980s. I’m kind of loving her retro sound. The Bulgarian-French singer popularized yé-yé music. It refers to the “yeah! yeah!” refrain borrowed from the Beatles.
Some of those Sylvies grew up to become famous, too. French ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem became the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera in the 1980s, before moving to the Royal Ballet in London. While she’s not a household name now, an accomplished ballerina helps cements Sylvie’s style as strong, elegant, and powerfully creative.
INTERNATIONAL NAME
Forms of the baby name Sylvie are heard internationally today. Some choices, like the Swedish Silvija and Hungarian Szilvia look a little more elaborate. But they’re remarkably close to the original.
READER FAVORITE
The baby name Sylvie first caught on in name forums for years. A big favorite on Appellation Mountain, Sylvie earned two coveted awards:
- In 2016, it earned the title in March Madness Baby Names. Past Winners include choices like Cora, Isla, Louisa, and Genevieve.
- A year later, Sylvie won the 2017 New Names Showdown. It beat out Maren in the final round, and had bested Poppy, Belle, and Antonella to take the title.
First name enthusiasts fell hard for Sylvie. The rest of the world soon followed.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME SYLVIE?
In the US, it’s Sylvia that long carried the day among baby girl names.
The name peaked in the 1910s and 20s, and remained a Top 100 pick in the 1930s and 40s. The name has never left the US Top 1000.
Silvia has fared well, too, but does not consistently appear in the rankings.
As of 2023, the names rank as follows:
- Sylvie ranks #425
- Sylvia is just a tick behind, at #426
- And Silvia remains outside of the rankings, though with 162 births, it’s also reasonably familiar
Sylvie appeals to parents for many reasons. It shares the same middle ‘v’ of Ava and Ivy. It fits with sweet, retro names like Josie and Sadie. Even though Sylvie isn’t a diminutive, it sounds like one in English – and that might be a positive. The nature name meaning helps, too, making it a sister for Hazel, Daphne, and other ecovintage picks.
SYLVIE LUSHTON AND SYLVIE RUSSO
Just as the baby name Sylvie surged in popularity, two more pop culture uses came along.
First, Marvel Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe character Loki has long had a female counterpart. She has different backstories and identities across the years. Sylvie Lushton is one name for the character; sometimes she’s Lady Loki; and sometimes she’s the Enchantress.
The one that most think of now?
Actress Sophia Di Martino plays Sylvie Laufeydottir on the Disney+ series Loki. The show debuted in 2021, sending the baby name Sylvie soaring into the US Top 500.
Now new Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, out at the end of 2024, introduces Sylvie Russo. Russo isn’t a real person – not exactly. Instead, she’s based on Suze Rotolo, an artist and actvitist in Dylan’s life.
Choosing the name Sylvie for the fictionalized Suze doesn’t seem like an accident.
SHINING VINTAGE CHOICE
There’s a timeless quality the baby name Sylvie.
It fits with vintage names like Dulcie and Sadie, though Sylvie is closer to Sophie – a formal name in its native France, an import that feels casual but remains sophisticated at the same time.
It’s an increasingly popular choice in the 2020s, but it’s still not too popular. That makes it a great option for parents after something both vintage and stylish, a shining, stylish option likely to be popular into the next decade.
What do you think about the baby name Sylvie? Do you prefer Sylvia/Silvia instead?
First published on April 24, 2014, this post was revised substantially on August 14, 2019 and again on December 31, 2024.
William Shakespeare imported ‘Silvia’ to England. Silvia is the protagonist in the Shakespearean poem. How are we not just swooning over this gem!!!
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Song: “Who is Silvia? what is she”
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
(from Two Gentlemen of Verona)
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness;
And, being helped, inhabits there.
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring
SILVIA is a beautiful option for someone looking for a classic name. There is no such thing as “too old fashioned’ in my opinion.
In today’s age, people are using weird names like west, north, Talia etc. — simply meaningless and pointless and even grotesque — with everyone trying to make them as ‘unique’ as they can.
I love the spelling of Silvia VS. Sylvia. This name seems very youthful when spelled this way, I’d highly recommend this very fine name for anyone.
We have a 9 month old Sylvie. It seems as though younger people love the name but the older crowd not so much. We absolutely love it though and it fits our little lady perfectly!
I do love Sylvie! I usually prefer the version of a name with an A on the end but I always liked Sylvie much more than Sylvia. My other exceptions are Ariane, Eve and Gabrielle.
There’s an important/meaningful place in one of my favorite author’s series called “Silvy Vale” and I have seriously considered using Sylvie as a literary honor name. (I don’t think I could handle using Silvy and having everyone thinking I had misspelled my kiddo’s name.)
We named our daughter Sylvi in 2008. I had meant to use the French spelling but filling out BC forms while still on the effects of c-section cocktail our daughter ended up with the Scandinavian form (which means “of the sun” or” from the house of strength”). I discovered my error when I went down to NICU the morning after their birth and saw the hand drawn signs welcoming SYLVI to NICU. Eek! I don’t know why I didn’t immediately change it.
At any rate, the Scandinavian meanings fit our daughter to a T. She was born with a neurological disorder called Dyspraxia but for all the life-long challenges it will give her, she somehow manages to be a ray on sunshine and stronger than we could have hoped for.
We don’t know anyone IRL named Sylvi so it’s a truly unique name for our unique girl. Like Terra above, Sylvi fits ours perfectly!
My daughter was one of the 2012 babies named Sylvie. We loved the name Sylvia, but Sylvie just sounded more fresh and modern (and I love French names). For as rare as it is, we were shocked when we were at a local children’s museum and another parent called out to their Sylvie, who was about a year older than ours! We didn’t think we’d ever run into other girls with that name, but it is definitely uncommon enough that she’s not going to have to spend her life also going by her last initial (which was and still is my situation!).
My husband just told me recently he loves the name Sylvie and the French Sylviane! He would want to pair Sylvie with his mom’s name Ann. I think they’re both very nice!
Sylvia brings up an interesting conundrum for me. My husband and I had planned for our first child’s middle name to be Sylvan (m) or Sylvia (f) after my wonderful grandma who pretty much raised me. When I revealed this to her she said not to because she hates her name. It’s a generational issue. She has always thought Sylvia was awful, but loves girls names like Terri, Carrie, Stacy, etc. that were trendy when she had kids… she said we should make the middle name “something nice like Ann or Linda”. We laughed over the thought of having a little Tammy Ann born in 2014. She would actually be mad at me if we used her name!
Anyways — I still adore Sylvia and Sylvie. Something so melodic and classic about them both. A favorite for me for many reasons, and maybe we will use it anyways.
Oh, the generational thing! My great grandmother Adeline made all her grandkids promise not to use her name on their kids because she always thought it was ugly. (She didn’t even go by it, because she hated it so much). Of course, Adeline is pretty hot now. 😀
I chose not to use another grandmother’s name because I knew she disliked it. Now she has passed away, but I’m also done having kids, and I do regret that I didn’t use it when I had the chance.
I have a 10 week old Sylvie, and we have gotten overall positive responses to her name. It fits her perfectly!