Sylvette
A feminine diminutive of the French name Sylvie, derived from the Latin silva meaning "forest".
Name Census estimates that about 30 living Americans carry the first name Sylvette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sylvette today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sylvette births was 1959 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sylvette. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sylvette. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
30
~ 1 in 11,425,145 Americans
Peak year
1959
7 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1986 SSA rank
#12,599
Tracked since 1959
Census
Sylvette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 241 people with the first name Sylvette, which placed it at #34,040 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#34,040
National first-name rank
People counted
241
241 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
50.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sylvette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sylvette is Hispanic at 50.2%. The next largest groups are White (19.1%) and Black (18.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sylvette described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sylvette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino50.2% · 121
- White19.1% · 46
- Black or African American18.7% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.5% · 18
- Two or more races4.6% · 11
Popularity
Sylvette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sylvette from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 24 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sylvette by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Sylvette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sylvette
The name Sylvette is a French diminutive form of the name Sylvia, which itself is derived from the Latin word "silva" meaning "forest" or "woods." The name Sylvette is thought to have originated in France during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century.
In its earliest usage, Sylvette was likely a nickname or pet name derived from Sylvia, which was a more common name at the time. The addition of the "-ette" suffix was a common way to form diminutives in French, indicating a smaller or more affectionate version of the original name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sylvette can be found in a 14th-century French text, where it is mentioned as the name of a young woman. However, the name did not gain widespread popularity until much later, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries.
One notable historical figure with the name Sylvette was Sylvette David, born in 1934, who was a French artist's model and the muse of the famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. Picasso created over 60 artworks featuring Sylvette David during their time together in the 1950s, including his famous sculpture "Head of Sylvette."
Another prominent Sylvette was Sylvette Hery, a French actress born in 1923, who appeared in several films during the 1950s and 1960s. She is perhaps best known for her role in the 1955 film "Les Salauds vont en enfer."
In the literary world, Sylvette Picard, born in 1930, was a French author and poet known for her works exploring themes of love and femininity. Her poetry collection "Les Mots de l'absence" (The Words of Absence) received critical acclaim.
Moving to the world of sports, Sylvette Fréchon, born in 1947, was a French tennis player who won the French Open mixed doubles title in 1967 and reached the quarterfinals of the singles event at Wimbledon in 1968.
Lastly, Sylvette Saillen, born in 1915, was a Belgian painter and printmaker known for her vibrant and colorful works depicting scenes of everyday life in Brussels and other Belgian cities.
While the name Sylvette has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, these examples demonstrate its presence across various fields and cultures, with a particular concentration in France and Belgium.
People
Sylvette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sylvette as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sylvette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sylvette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sylvette going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 11,425,145 US residents.
Is Sylvette a common name?
We classify Sylvette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 46.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 36 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sylvette most popular?
The single biggest year for Sylvette was 1959, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sylvette is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sylvette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 241 people with the name Sylvette, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,040 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sylvette in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sylvette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sylvette appears almost entirely female. Of the 240 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sylvette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sylvette is Hispanic at 50.2%. The next largest groups are White (19.1%) and Black (18.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sylvette most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sylvette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.2% (121 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sylvette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sylvette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sylvette in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Sylvette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sylvette in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sylvette can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Sylvette?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.