About Silas
Silas is a New Testament name best known through a companion of Paul. It is probably a short form of Silvanus, meaning of the woods, although its exact origin is debated. George Eliot's Silas Marner gives it a major literary connection, while recent American popularity has brought the name into much wider contemporary use.
Meaning and related forms
Silvanus comes from Latin silva, wood or forest. Paul uses Silvanus in his letters for the companion usually identified with Silas. That connection explains the common forest-related interpretation of the shorter name.
A second proposal connects both Silas and Silvanus with Hebrew Saul through an Aramaic form. These possibilities leave the name’s deeper origin uncertain.
Sylas is a spelling alternative. Sylvan, Italian Silvano, and Silvio belong to the related Latin family. In English, Silas is pronounced SY-lus, with stress on the first syllable and the long i sound of sky.
Silas in Acts
Acts presents Silas as one of Paul's companions in the early Christian mission. One of his most memorable appearances comes in the account of their imprisonment at Philippi in chapter 16.
Paul and Silas are beaten and placed in an inner prison, with their feet secured in stocks. Around midnight they are praying and singing when an earthquake shakes the building, opening the doors and loosening the prisoners' restraints.
The jailer assumes the prisoners have escaped, but Paul calls out that they are still there. The encounter ends with the jailer caring for their wounds and receiving them into his household. The episode gives Silas a place in a narrative of confinement, unexpected release, and conversion.
Silas Marner
George Eliot's 1861 novel Silas Marner follows a weaver living apart from the community around him. After his money is stolen, a young child enters his cottage, beginning a change in the life he has built around work and hoarding.
The child, Eppie, has wandered from her mother, who dies in the snow. Silas raises her with help from Dolly Winthrop. Their relationship brings him into closer contact with his neighbors and gives him a form of attachment very different from his lost gold.
The novel's title has made Silas familiar beyond its biblical setting. Its central relationship concerns the family created through care and everyday commitment, rather than through biological parenthood alone.
American popularity
Silas ranked #630 for United States boys in 1950 and #818 in 1980. It began a substantial modern rise, moving from #602 in 2000 to #219 in 2010.
In 2025 it reached #71, with 4,639 births, its strongest ranking and largest annual count in the local series. The increase represents renewed use of a name that had entered English naming traditions after the Protestant Reformation, rather than the invention of a new modern form.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Origins and cultural connections draw on the references below. American figures use the local SSA series for the exact spelling and sex, omitting counts below five. Existing Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA.
How popular is Silas?
In 2025, Silas ranked #71 among boys in the United States, with 4,639 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 4,639 in 2025. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.