Silva
A surname from the Latin word for “forest” or “wood,” often pointing to someone who lived by or came from a wooded place.
The #163 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,910 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Silva comes from Latin silva, meaning “wood,” “forest,” or “grove.” As a surname, it was often used as a place-based name for someone associated with a wooded area or a person from a place called Silva. In Iberian and Italian naming traditions, the form was also influenced by local usage and by the prestige of Latin and saint names built on the same root.
History
The name is especially common in the Iberian world, where de Silva and similar forms appear early in records. It also spread widely through Portugal and Spanish-speaking countries, and later through migration to the Americas. In some cases it became a fixed hereditary surname among families of noble or urban status rather than a simple topographic label.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Latin root gives us names like Silvanus and Silvester, both originally linked to the forest.
From the historical record
“SAVAGE (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Wild, Fierce [O.Fr. salvage (Fr. sauvage), Lat. silvaticus, be- longing to a forest, wild — silva, a forest] See Salvage. SAVARY \ (Fr.-Teut. ) the French Savary, SAVERY J O.Teut. Sabari<:(h, etc. = Mind-”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)