Silvester vs Silvestre
American parents have registered 2,457 Silvestres since 1880, against 1,306 Silvesters. Silvestre is still ahead, with 20 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Silvester Silvestre
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 124 years in which either name was published, Silvestre for 73 years and Silvester for 51 years. The lead changed hands 17 times.
- 1884–1933 Silvester ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1934–1941 Silvestre ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1942–1945 Silvester ahead
- 1949–1951 Silvestre ahead
- 1952–1965 Silvester ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1966–2025 Silvestre ahead, apart from one short spell
8 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Silvester | Silvestre | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,306 | 2,457 |
| Most in one year | 32 | 60 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 20 |
| Estimated living today | 640 | 2,000 |
| Median age today | 55 | 30 |
| Peak year | 1960 | 1994 |
| Best rank | 1,400th boys | 1,544th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 4,857th |
| First recorded | 1884 | 1912 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,306 | 0 / 2,457 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Silvesters alive today are over 55; half the Silvestres are over 30. That is 25 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Silvester and Silvestre.