Gender Feminine
Pronounced Pron. SEEL-vya(Italian) SEEL-bya(Spanish) ZIL-vya(German) SIL-vee-ə(English)  [key·IPA]

Meaning & History

Feminine form of Silvius. Rhea Silvia was the mother of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. This was also the name of a 6th-century saint, the mother of the pope Gregory the Great. It has been a common name in Italy since the Middle Ages. It was introduced to England by Shakespeare, who used it for a character in his play The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594). It is now more commonly spelled Sylvia in the English-speaking world.

Related Names

VariantsSílvia(Portuguese) Sylvia(German) Sylvia(Dutch) Sylvia(English)
Masculine FormsSilvio(Italian) Silvio(Spanish) Sílvio(Portuguese) Silviu(Romanian) Silvius(Late Roman) Silvius(Roman Mythology)
Other Languages & CulturesSilviya, Silva(Bulgarian) Sílvia(Catalan) Silvija(Croatian) Silvie, Sylva, Sylvie(Czech) Sylvia(Danish) Sylvia, Sylvi(Finnish) Sylvie, Sylvette(French) Szilvia(Hungarian) Silvija(Latvian) Silvija(Lithuanian) Silvija(Macedonian) Sylvia, Sølvi, Sylvi(Norwegian) Sylwia(Polish) Silvija(Serbian) Silvija, Silva(Slovene) Sylvia, Sylvi(Swedish)
Same SpellingSílvia
User SubmissionSilvía

Popularity

People think this name is

classic   mature   formal   upper class   natural   wholesome   refined   strange   serious  

Name Days

Austria: June 3
Austria: September 3
Estonia: August 8
Germany: November 3
Italy: November 3
Slovakia: August 27
Spain: November 3
Sweden: August 8

Images

Mars and Rhea Silvia by Peter Paul Rubens (1617)Mars and Rhea Silvia by Peter Paul Rubens (1617)

Categories

Entry updated November 20, 2020