Sylvia (given name)

Sylvia

Gender	Feminine
Origin
Language(s)	Latin
Meaning	"Forest"
Other names
Alternative spelling	Silvia
Variant form(s)	Sylvie

Sylvia is a feminine given name of Latin origin, also spelled Silvia. The French form is Sylvie. The name originates from the Latin word for forest Silva and its meaning is spirit of the wood. The mythological god of the forest was associated with the figure of Silvanus.

William Shakespeare imported 'Silvia' to England. Silvia is the protagonist in the Shakespearean poem: Who is Silvia? what is she, That all our swains commend her? Today, Silvia is the more modern spelling of the name Sylvia. In Roman mythology, Silvia is the goddess of the forest while Rea Silvia was the mother of Romulus and Remus. Silvia is also the name of one of the female innamorati of the commedia dell'arte and is a character of the Aminta written by Torquato Tasso. Sylvia (that spelling) was the 137th most popular girl's name in Britain in 1900.

People

• Sylivia Sebastian Bebwa, Beauty Queen, Crowned Miss Tanzania 2019/20
• Saint Silvia
• Queen Silvia of Sweden
• Sylvia (singer), American country singer born Sylvia Jane Kirby
• Sylvia Anderson, British voice artist and film producer
• Sylvia Rose Ashby, Australian market-researcher
• Sylvia Ashton-Warner, New Zealand writer, poet and educator
• Sylvia Browne, American psychic
• Silvia Cartwright, Governor-General of New Zealand
• Sylvia Chang, Taiwanese actress, producer and director
• Sylvia Chase (1938–2019), American broadcast journalist
• Sylvia Constantinidis, Venezuelan-American pianist, conductor and composer
• Sylvia Crawley, American basketball player
• Sylvia Day, American romance writer
• Sylvia Earle, American oceanographer and aquanaut
• Sylvia Esterby, Canadian statistician
• Sylvia Fernando (1904-1983), Sri Lankan educator and family planning advocate
• Sylwia Gruchała, Polish fencer
• Sylvia Hanika, German tennis player
• Sylvia Likens, American murder victim at age 16
• Sylvia Martínez Elizondo (1947–2020), Mexican politician
• Sylvia McNair, American singer
• Silvia Monfort, French actress
• Sylvia Namutebi, Uganda beauty pageant titleholder
• Sylvia Pankhurst, British suffragette and Marxist
• Sylvia Pedlar, American lingerie designer
• Silvia Pinal, Mexican actress
• Sylvia Plath, American confessional poet
• Sylvia Poggioli, Radio news anchor
• Sylvia Rivera, American transgender activist
• Sylvia Robinson, American rhythm & blues singer, member of Mickey & Sylvia, and record label executive
• Sylvia Ruuska, American medley and freestyle swimmer
• Sylvia Sanchez, (born 1971), Filipino actress
• Sylvia Schofield (1916–2006), British writer and traveller
• Sylvia Siddell (1941–2011), New Zealand artist
• Sylvia Sidney, American actress
• Sylvia Sleigh, Welsh-American painter
• Sylvia Syms, English actress
• Sylvia Thalberg, American screenwriter
• Sylvia Tyson, Canadian musician, performer, singer-songwriter and broadcaster
• Sylvie Vartan, Bulgarian-French singer and actress
• Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, Peruvian-American explorer, mountaineer, social entrepreneur and technologist
• Sylvia Vrethammar, Swedish singer
• Sylvia Wene, American ten-pin bowler
• Sylvia Weve, Dutch illustrator

Fictional characters

• Sylvia Costas, Assistant District Attorney in the American television drama NYPD Blue
• Sylvia Rosen, a neighbor who is friendly with Don and Megan Draper in Mad Men (season 6)
• Sylvia Goodwin, the mother of Roy Cropper in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street
• Sylvia, character in the animated series Wander Over Yonder
• Sylvia Lyyneheym, a character in the light novel and anime of The Asterisk War
• Sylvia, the character played by Anita Ekberg in the Italian film La Dolce Vita (1960)
• Sylvia, the character voiced by Kristen Johnston in the American animated film Ice Age (2002)
• Sylvia, the protagonist in the short story A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett
• Sylvia Fine, the character played by Renee Taylor in the television series The Nanny
• Sylvia Hollamby Character in the ITV prison drama Bad Girls (TV series) played by Helen Fraser

See also

• Sylvia (disambiguation)
• Sylvia, a genus term for birds