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Dictionary of Medieval Names
from European Sources

Sylvester m. Latin silvestris 'wooded, wild', from Latin silva 'woodland'.

The name of three popes and an anti-pope, and two 12th C saints.

England
Latin
1408 Silvester (nom) GCCYork p.11
English
1560 Silvester BUmar-vol2 p. 60; 1577 Silvester DEmar-vol1 p. 83; 1585 Silvester DEmar-vol2 p. 11; 1590 Silvester BUmar-vol1 p. 17, DEmar-vol1 p. 86; 1591 Silvester BUmar-vol2 p. 118; 1594 Silvester DEmar-vol2 p. 30
France
Latin
1135 Silvester (nom) clairvaux-12thc 7; 1147x62 Silvester (nom) ibid. 48; 1180 Silvestris (gen) RotScaNor p. 27
Old French
1313 Selvestre Paris1313 p. 30
Middle French
1392 Sevestre MemBret-II col. 607
Italy
Latin
1348 Silvestrum (acc) INP 24, Sylvestri (gen) ibid. 25; 1522x1532 Silvester (nom) DSF p. 51, 13, Silvestri (gen) ibid. p. 51, 13
Cite as: N. Shiel, S.L. Uckelman. "Sylvester". In S.L. Uckelman, ed. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Edition 2015, no. 2. http://dmnes.org/2015/2/name/Sylvester.