Feb. 17: It’s been so much fun these past days to look at little Sylvia and to call her by her name. I’ve been writing her baby announcements, and it feels sort of crazy to write her name over and over. Sylvia. Sylvia. Sylvia. We could have given her any name, but that’s the one we chose. That’s what people will call her for the rest of her life. It’s a big thing! I have no previous context for the name Sylvia, so now I’m creating the association with this new little member of our family.
Joe did a post on his blog with musings about her name: http://platosfootnotes.net/2008/02/13/sylvia/.
I found the name in December when Bryan and I were pouring through The Baby Name Wizard book. They said, “Concentrate hard on this one. Put aside your preconceptions, close your eyes, and really listen to the name. Lovely, isn’t it.” In the 1910s, it was #73 in popularity. These days it is #561…pretty uncommon. I think the nickname Sylvie is really cute. And I like spelling it with a “y” since Bryan is spelled with a “y.”
I think my favorite part of the name is that it means “from the forest.” So there’s a lovely link to nature, and it also happens that Bryan’s maternal grandpa’s name is Forrest. To me, Sylvia makes me think of a quiet forest painted lavender in the moonlight.
According to one of my mom’s name books, “Sylvia is from the Latin silvanus, meaning ‘forest.’ In Roman mythology, Silvanus is the good of the woods and fields. Silvia is variant spelling. In ancient times, Sylvia was a favorite name for a shepherdess.”
When I did some web research on the name, here are some fun things I found:
There was a good discussion on the Baby Name Wizard discussion board about why Sylvia hasn’t become more popular in recent years.: http://thebabynamewizard.ivillage.com/parenting/archives/2007/11/who-is-sylvia.html
Here’s a poem by William Shakespeare to a Sylvia of alternate spelling:
Who is Silvia? What is she?
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admired be.
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness:
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness;
And, being help’d, inhabits there.
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling:
To her let us garlands bring.