Explore the Family Name Silvester

The meaning of Silvester

English and German: variant of Sylvester.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Silvester in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Silvester experienced a subtle rise between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Silvester was the 22,443rd most popular surname in the United States. However, by 2010, it had risen slightly to become the 22,194th most common surname, reflecting a marginal growth rate of 1.11%. Correspondingly, the count of individuals bearing the surname increased from 1,070 in 2000 to 1,163 in 2010, marking an 8.69% rise. Despite this increase, the proportion of individuals with the Silvester surname per 100,000 people showed a slight dip of 2.5%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#22,443	#22,194	1.11%
Count	1,070	1,163	8.69%
Proportion per 100k	0.4	0.39	-2.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Silvester

When considering the ethnic identity associated with the surname Silvester, the Decennial U.S. Census data indicates a few shifts between 2000 and 2010. The majority of those identified as Silvesters continued to be predominantly white, although there was a small decrease of 3.62% over the decade. Meanwhile, the percentage of Hispanic Silvesters saw a significant rise of 78.9%. The percentage of Silvesters identifying as Black decreased by 16.3%, and those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaskan Native appeared for the first time in 2010, at 1.38% and 0.43% respectively. Furthermore, the category of two or more races saw an increase of 11.45% in the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
White	90.37%	87.1%	-3.62%
Hispanic	3.46%	6.19%	78.9%
Black	4.11%	3.44%	-16.3%
Two or More Races	1.31%	1.46%	11.45%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.38%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.43%	0%