View Message

Sylvester
While on vacation this past week, I saw the most recent movie in the Rocky saga, "Rocky Balboa." That and my recent love of Sylvie and Sylvia got me thinking about Sylvester. I would never never, however advocate Sylvia and Sylvester in a sibset. It is quite a lot for most people - sounding maybe a little pretentious. Plus the cat and Stallone associations are probably off-putting to most people. But consider this, the cat association is already becoming old and probably won‘t be familiar to any one currently under 15 (they watched the Rugrats, and Blues Clues), and I simply don’t think Sylvester Stallone can lay claim to the name because he is not huge like Madonna, and unlike Madonna, the name was actually moderately popular in recent history: http://www.behindthename.com/top/search.php?extra=p&terms=Sylvester&submit=GoBut if you put those associations aside, and just say the name to your self over and over, it sounds quite slick. And it has quite an etymology, being a Saint name used in medieval times. I feared it was an old surname, but according to this site at least, it's not.Another plus for the name is that so many parents seem to be obsessed with y, sticking it in names where it doesn’t belong (Ayden), but Sylvester is a name that already comes with a y. Although I guess it was originally spelt Silvester. However, my spell check underlines Silvester and ignore Sylvester, telling me the latter spelling has become more commonly accepted. Personally, despite IMO the name’s many strengths, I don't think most modern parents have the guts to use Sylvester, which makes the name even more appealing to me. So many name enthusiasts complain that there aren’t many name options for boys, and I feel, for the intrepid, Sylvester fills the void.Thoughts on Sylvester?

This message was edited 8/19/2008, 3:54 AM

Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

I quite like Sylvester. It's a nice classic that isn't common. I think I like it best as a middle name because I am not fond of any nicknames.
vote up1
Sylvester is just the sort of snappy, hint-of-Roman-glory kind of a name that appeals to me greatly. But even better is the feminine version, Sylvestra / Silvestra. How cool would that be for a mn? Mary Sylvestra / Silvestra?
vote up1
Silvestra is quite cool - as a fn or mn - mI do like it paired with Mary.
vote up1
I can't argue with any of your reasoning, but Sylvester still has a ridiculous ring to me, I suppose because of the cat association. I've always thought that Stallone could pull it off because he's a celebrity (though I think it was his name before he became one, and hats off to him for having the guts not to change it), also he's extremely macho. Sylvester still makes me want to giggle, though.
vote up1
The cat association is still too strong for me, since I used to watch him when I was younger (still prefer Bugs though). Maybe that's what made the name less popular in the first place. I've never cared for Sylvester Stallone, so I don't worry about that. Other than that, the name is okay.Sorry, but no young child watches Rugrats and Blue's Clues anymore. They've moved on to Hannah Montana (barf), High School Musical (bigger barf), other crappy Disney Channel shows, Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, iCarly, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

This message was edited 8/19/2008, 7:58 AM

vote up1
Ah, I guess my child's still too young and I'm not up on those things...
vote up1