Silvanus is a given name and surname. Notable people with the name include:

• Marcus Plautius Silvanus (1st-century BC–1st-century AD), Roman consul in 2 BC
• Tiberius Plautius Silvanus Aelianus, a Roman patrician serving twice as consul (45 AD, 74 AD)
• Marcus Caeionius Silvanus (born c. 120), Roman consul in 156 AD
• Saint Silvanus, also known as Silas, an early Christian and companion of Paul
• Silvanus of the Seventy, another early Christian and traditionally among Jesus' seventy apostles
• Saint Silvanus (or Sylvanus), was one of the seven sons of Saint Felicitas of Rome (2nd century)
• Abba Silvanus, one of the Desert Fathers
• Silvanus (magister peditum), Roman general and usurper against Constantius II
• Silvanus of Ahun (Silvain, Sylvanus, died 407), 5th-century martyr
• Claudius Silvanus (died 355), Frankish usurper in 355
• Silvanus Bevan (1691–1765), 18th century apothecary
• Silvanus Melea Otieno (1931–1986), posthumously controversial Kenyan lawyer
• Silvanus Trevail (1851–1903), Cornish architect
• Silvanus P. Thompson (1851–1916), physicist, engineer and author
• Silouan the Athonite (1866–1938), also known as Saint Silvanus the Athonite
• Colonel Sylvanus Thayer (1785–1872), "Father of the United States Military Academy"

• Silvanus (praetorian prefect), a Roman officer of the Third Century AD
• Silvanus Njambari (born 1974), retired Namibian footballer with Black Africa F.C..
• Silvino Bercellino (born 1946), retired Italian football player
• Silvino Francisco (born 1946), retired South African professional snooker player
• Silvino Gomes Soares (born 1978), Cape Verdean football striker
• Silvino Louro (born 1959), is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a goalkeeper
• Syl Apps (1915-1998), a Canadian professional ice hockey player
• Sylvanus Bowser (19th-century–1938), widely credited with inventing the automobile fuel pump
• Sylvanus C. Breyfogel (born 1851), American Bishop of the Evangelical Association
• Sylvanus Dung Dung (born 1949), former field hockey player from India
• Sylvanus H. Sweet (1830–1899), American civil engineer and politician from New York. He was New York State Engineer and Surveyor from 1874 to 1875
• Sylvanus Lowry (died 1865), slave owning Southern aristocrat from Kentucky who reigned as the political boss of Saint Cloud, Minnesota
• Sylvanus Morgan (1620 – March 27, 1693), English arms-painter and author
• Sylvanus Morley (1883–1948), American archaeologist, epigrapher, and Mayanist scholar
• Sylvanus Ngele, Senator for the Ebonyi North constituency of Ebonyi State, Nigeria
• Sylvanus Okpala (born 1961), retired Nigerian football midfielder
• Sylvanus Olympio (1902–1963), Togolese political figure who served as Prime Minister, and then President, of Togo from 1958 until his assassination in 1963
• Sylvanus Percival Vivian (1880–1958), 7th Registrar General of England and Wales (1921–1945)
• Sylvanus T. Rugg (1834–1881), officer in the Union Army who commanded an artillery battery at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War
• Sylvanus Wear (1858–1920), English naturalist who settled in Belfast in 1904
• Sylvanus William Godon (1809–1879), American naval officer who served in the Mexican–American and American Civil Wars
• Sylvanus Wood (1604–1675), English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1654

Fictional

• Silvanus Kettleburn, the former Care of Magical Creatures teacher in the Harry Potter novel series
• Sylvanas Windrunner, the former Warchief of the Horde and leader of the Forsaken faction in the Warcraft video game series