Silas
- Pronunciation
- [Si-las]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Variant Of Sylvanus From A Greek Name Meaning Forest: Woods. In The Bible Silas Was A Missionary Companion Of Paul And Timothy.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Silas
Silas descends from the Greek Silas, traditionally derived from the Aramaic Sheila (asked of God) — a contracted form of the Hebrew Saul. An alternative reading connects Silas to the Latin Silvanus (of the woods, woodland deity). The New Testament Silas is one of Paul's traveling companions, mentioned multiple times in the Acts of the Apostles — the same person sometimes called Silvanus in Paul's letters, suggesting the two etymologies may have merged in early Christian use.
The name was rare in medieval English-language use but was revived through Puritan-era Old Testament/early-Christian naming in 17th-century New England. Notable bearers include 19th-century American novelist Silas Marner — the title character of George Eliot's 1861 novel Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, one of the iconic mid-Victorian novels of moral redemption; American Senate chaplain Silas Hardy Cole; and 19th-century gun-maker Silas Pendleton.
Silas's modern American surge is part of the broader 21st-century vintage-revival wave alongside Theodore, Henry, and Oliver. The name climbed from outside the US top 500 in 1995 to the top 100 by 2010 and the top 75 by 2018. The name's appeal is its layered register — biblical/early-Christian pedigree, late-Victorian literary anchor, distinctively old-fashioned but distinctly approachable, two soft syllables, and a tonal warmth that distinguishes it from harsher Old Testament names like Caleb. Common nicknames Si, Sy, and the rare Lasso each carry distinct registers. International forms include Silas (Italian/Spanish, identical), Silvanus (the related Latin form), and the Russian Silas.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Silas
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Silas by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2025 with 4,639 boys named Silas (boy rank #71 that year).
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Silas Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Silas the strongest states are Kentucky, Maine, West Virginia.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kentucky | #41 | 937 |
| 2 | Maine | #42 | 246 |
| 3 | West Virginia | #44 | 356 |
| 4 | Arkansas | #47 | 552 |
| 5 | Oregon | #50 | 627 |
| 6 | Vermont | #51 | 105 |
| 7 | Montana | #51 | 186 |
| 8 | Tennessee | #55 | 1,275 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | #58 | 643 |
| 10 | North Dakota | #59 | 169 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey | #247 | 361 |
| 2 | District of Columbia | #182 | 57 |
| 3 | California | #172 | 2,342 |
| 4 | Nevada | #166 | 208 |
| 5 | New York | #162 | 1,150 |
| 6 | Rhode Island | #154 | 75 |
| 7 | Texas | #149 | 2,543 |
| 8 | Connecticut | #137 | 258 |
| 9 | Massachusetts | #136 | 479 |
| 10 | Illinois | #135 | 926 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Silas in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Silas?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Silas to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Silas against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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