Silva

From the Latin silva, 'wood, forest' — a family that lived by woodland, almost always in the fuller form da Silva, 'of the wood'. The single most common surname in Portugal and in Brazil. Silva is the forest made a surname, and it is everywhere the Portuguese went: da Silva is the most common surname in Portugal and, by the immense weight of the colonial migration, the most common in Brazil too — a country of over two hundred million where it sits at the very top of the register.

Yes, Silva is a Portuguese surname. Its editorial home in this atlas is Portuguese, where the historical territory and family record of the name are concentrated.

Silva is the forest made a surname, and it is everywhere the Portuguese went: da Silva is the most common surname in Portugal and, by the immense weight of the colonial migration, the most common in Brazil too — a country of over two hundred million where it sits at the very top of the register. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Silva name took its modern form within that long settlement.

Of the wood — the commonest name in the Lusophone world. Silva is the forest made a surname, and it is everywhere the Portuguese went: da Silva is the most common surname in Portugal and, by the immense weight of the colonial migration, the most common in Brazil too — a country of over two hundred million where it sits at the very top of the register.

Yes. Da Silva is a historical spelling variant of the Silva name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Portuguese is the primary historical home of the Silva surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same Portuguese origin recorded on this page.

The Clan Rising page for the Silva family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of Portuguese so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

The seat for the head of the Silva family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.