Sylvan

Where Sylvan comes from

Sylvan hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1886
    First appearance
    #758 among boys, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1898
    Sylvan Goldman born
    American inventor
  3. 1912
    Peak, #552
    53 babies named Sylvan — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1945
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,536.
  5. 1986
    Sylvan Ebanks-Blake born
    British footballer
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Sylvan Ebanks-Blake · British footballer, born 1986
  • Sylvan Goldman · American inventor, 1898–1984
  • Sylvan Adams · Canadian-Israeli Philanthropist, born 1958
  • Sylvan Muldoon · American writer, 1903–1971
  • Sylvan Anderton · English footballer, born 1934

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.