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Sylvania
How to Pronounce Sylvania
Pronounced sil-VAY-nee-ah /sɪlˈveɪ.ni.ə/Medium
Meaning: Sylvania is an elaborated form of Silvia/Sylvia, from the Latin silva, 'forest, woodland,' extended with the -ania ending in the same manner as Pennsylvania ('Penn's woods'); as a given name it carries Sylvia's core meaning of forest or woodland.Medium
Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data
U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.
SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.
History & Origin
Sylvania extends Silvia and Sylvia, from the Latin silva, 'forest,' with the -ania suffix familiar from place names like Pennsylvania and Transylvania. It gave early twentieth-century families a more elaborate alternative to the plainer Sylvia.
Sylvania was never common, given to only about eighteen girls a year at its peak around 1915, and it faded steadily, with its last recorded uses by the late 1980s. It reads today as a distinctly antique, nature-rooted name.
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Frequently Asked
What does the name Sylvania mean?
It comes from the Latin silva, 'forest, woodland,' as an elaborated form of Sylvia.
How do you pronounce Sylvania?
It is said sil-VAY-nee-ah /sɪlˈveɪ.ni.ə/, four syllables with the stress on the second.
Is Sylvania a boy or girl name?
Sylvania is used as a girl's name.
How popular is Sylvania?
It has always been rare in the United States, given to only about eighteen girls a year at its peak in the mid nineteen-tens, and it has not returned since.