2000
#6,953
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,448
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.65
Rare Last name
Silvestri
An Italian occupational surname referring to a forester or someone who worked in or owned a wood.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 4,860 Americans carry the last name Silvestri. That puts it at #7,556 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 1.42 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 70,526 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Silvestri surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Silvestri with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
4.9K
1 in 70,526
Census rank
#7,556
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
1.4
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
4.2K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 4,238 bearers of the surname Silvestri in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 1.42 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 7556th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Silvestri, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Two or More Races (1.8%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Silvestri
The surname Silvestri is of Italian origin, derived from the Italian word "silvestre," meaning "wild" or "forest-dweller." It is believed to have originated in the regions of Tuscany and Lazio during the medieval period, likely as a descriptive name for someone who lived in or near a forest.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Silvestri can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Cavensis, a collection of documents from the Benedictine monastery of Cava de' Tirreni in Campania, dating back to the 11th century. This suggests that the name was already in use by that time.
In the 13th century, a notable figure bearing the name Silvestri was Jacobus Silvestri, a Franciscan friar and theologian from the town of Bevagna in Umbria, who lived between 1225 and 1286. He was known for his commentary on the works of Aristotle and his contributions to the development of Scholastic philosophy.
Another notable individual with the surname Silvestri was Cristoforo Silvestri, a 15th-century Florentine painter and architect. Born around 1430, he was known for his frescoes in the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence and his architectural work on the Palazzo Strozzi.
In the 16th century, Giovanni Silvestri, an Italian jurist and diplomat from Naples, served as the ambassador of the Kingdom of Naples to the Holy Roman Empire. He lived from 1490 to 1566 and played a significant role in the diplomatic affairs of his time.
During the 17th century, Camillo Silvestri, a Roman Catholic prelate and diplomat from Frascati, was appointed as the Apostolic Nuncio to France by Pope Innocent XI. He served in this role from 1679 to 1683 and contributed to the Church's diplomatic efforts during that period.
Throughout its history, the surname Silvestri has been associated with various place names in Italy, such as Silvestri di Rieti, Silvestri di Terni, and Silvestri di Perugia, indicating the regions where different branches of the family resided.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Silvestri
Among Census respondents with the surname Silvestri, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Two or More Races (1.8%).
The bar chart below shows how Silvestri bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Silvestri surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.4% · 3,833
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 270
- Two or more races1.8% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 36
- Black or African American0.4% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 8
Timeline
Historical Census data for Silvestri
Silvestri appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#7,201
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,638
+190 bearers (+4.3%)
Per 100,000 1.57
Rank movement Down 248 places
2020
#7,556
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,238
-400 bearers (-8.6%)
Per 100,000 1.42
Rank movement Down 355 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #6,953 | 4,448 | 1.65 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #7,201 | 4,638 | 1.57 | +190 bearers (+4.3%) | Down 248 places |
| 2020 | #7,556 | 4,238 | 1.42 | -400 bearers (-8.6%) | Down 355 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Silvestri surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #7,201 | #7,556 | -4.9% |
| Count | 4,638 | 4,238 | -8.6% |
| Per 100K | 1.57 | 1.42 | -9.7% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Silvestri bearers went from 4,638 to 4,238 (-8.6% change). The surname moved down 355 positions in the national ranking, going from #7,201 to #7,556.
FAQ
Silvestri surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Silvestri?
Name Census estimates that about 4,860 living Americans carry the surname Silvestri. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 70,526 residents.
How common is Silvestri?
Silvestri ranks #7,556 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 1.42 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 4,238 people with the surname Silvestri. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (4,860), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 1.42 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 1.42 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Silvestri.
Has Silvestri become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Silvestri went from 4,638 recorded bearers to 4,238. That is a decrease of 400 (-8.6%). In the national ranking it fell from #7,201 to #7,556.
What does the Census say about the background of Silvestri?
Among Census respondents with the surname Silvestri, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Silvestri in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.4% (3,833 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Silvestri appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (90.4%), Hispanic (6.4%), Two or More Races (1.8%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Silvestri (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Silvestri mean?
An Italian occupational surname referring to a forester or someone who worked in or owned a wood. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Silvestri (1.42 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How common is the surname Silvestri?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how common the surname Silvestri is at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.