Silva is a surname in Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Portugal and Brazil. Origin: Latin toponymic /natural world word , meaning "forest" or "woodland". It is the family name of the House of Silva.
The name is also widespread in Galician-speaking regions of Spain (mostly in Galicia) and even more so in regions of the former Portuguese Empire in the Americas (being the most common surname in Brazil), in Africa and Asia, notably in India and Sri Lanka. It is also quite common in Spanish-speaking Latin America.
Movement of people has led to the name being used in many places. Due to emigration from Portuguese-speaking countries, Silva (and the variants Da Silva and De Silva) is the fifth most common surname in the French department of Val-de-Marne, outside Paris, and it was the 19th most common family name given to newborns between 1966 and 1990 in France. It is also the seventh most common surname (and the most common non-German, non-French) in Luxembourg. It is also among the top 20 surnames in Andorra, Angola, Cape Verde and Switzerland.
Geographical distribution
As of 2014, 64.7% of all known bearers of the surname Silva were residents of Brazil (frequency 1:57), 5.3% of Mexico (1:417), 5.1% of Portugal (1:37), 3.2% of Mozambique (1:152), 2.8% of Venezuela (1:192), 2.7% of the United States (1:2,361), 2.3% of Chile (1:136), 2.2% of Argentina (1:349), 2.2% of Peru (1:263), 2.0% of Colombia (1:424) and 1.1% of Guinea-Bissau (1:29).
In Brazil, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:57) in the following states: Maranhão (1:24) Bahia (1:32) Roraima (1:32) Pará (1:35) Acre (1:38) Amapá (1:39) Alagoas (1:39) Sergipe (1:40) Amazonas (1:43) Rio Grande do Norte (1:47) Pernambuco (1:51) Goiás (1:53) Paraíba (1:53) Piauí (1:54) Ceará (1:55) Federal District (1:55)
Arts
Actors
Adele Silva, British actress
António Silva (actor) (1886–1971), Portuguese actor
Deepani Silva, Sri Lankan actress
Douglas Silva, Brazilian actor
Fernando Ramos da Silva (1967–1987), Brazilian actor
Frank Silva (1950–1995), American actor and set dresser
Freddie Silva (1938–2001), Sri Lankan actor, comedian and playback singer
Gertrudes Rita da Silva (1825–1888), Portuguese actor
Henry Silva (1926–2022), American actor
Howard da Silva, American actor and director
Sadiris Master (died 1958), Sri Lankan Sinhalese actor, musician
Hilarion "Larry" Silva (1937–2004), Filipino actor, comedian and politician
Leena de Silva (born 1936), Sri Lankan Sinhala film, television, and theater actress Leslie Silva, American actress Nicole da Silva, Australian actress Palitha Silva, Sri Lankan actor Paulo Rogério da Silva, Brazilian actor also known as Gero Camilo Rafael L. Silva, Brazilian-American actor Roy de Silva (1937–2018), Sri Lankan Sinhalese actor and film director Sanjit De Silva, Sri Lankan American actor and director Simone Silva (1928–1957), Egyptian-born French film actress, also briefly in British films
Musicians
Da Silva (singer), French singer, songwriter of Portuguese origin
Alan Silva, American free jazz double bassist
Amancio D'Silva (1936–1996), Indian jazz guitarist and composer
Andrew Conrad De Silva, Sri Lankan Australian R&B and rock vocalist and instrumentalist Dawn Silva, American funk vocalist Deepal Silva, Sri Lankan Sinhalese playback singer and actor Desmond de Silva, Sri Lankan vocalist Francisco Manuel da Silva (1795–1865), Brazilian composer and music professor Henry Silva, Cape Verdean band leader/singer Humberto Rodríguez Silva (1908–1952), Cuban composer and judge Horace Silver (1928–2014), American jazz pianist, composer and bandleader Luis Silva (1943–2008), American Tejano songwriter Lúcio Silva da Souza, known artistically as Silva, Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Malcolm "Mac" Silva (1947–1989), Aboriginal Australian musician, who appeared in the film Country Outcasts Rui da Silva, Portuguese DJ Stuart de Silva, Sri Lankan Australian jazz pianist Virajini Lalithya de Silva, Sri Lankan Sinhalese vocalist Vivian Wilson da Silva Fernandes, Indian Rapper from Mumbai, India, also known as DIVINE Vivienne de Silva Boralessa (1930–2017), Sri Lankan vocalist (Buddhist devotional music) Yohani Diloka de Silva, Sri Lankan singer, songwriter, rapper, music producer, YouTuber and businesswoman, also known as Yohani