Silas Name Meaning

Silas is a masculine name, and it is typically used as a given name. In English, Silas means “wood, forest” or “man of the forest.” In Latin, it means “of the woods,” and in Greek, it means “man of the woods.” Additionally, the name Silas can also be translated to mean “man of the woods.”

Origins of the Name Silas

The name Silas is derived from the Greek name Σιλας (Silas), which is a form of the Latin name Silvanus. It is believed to have originated from the Hebrew name Shelomoh, which means “peace” or “tranquility” in Hebrew. In the New Testament, Silas is the name of a companion of Paul the Apostle, and the name is mentioned several times in the Bible.

Popularity of the Name Silas

Silas was a popular name in the 19th century, and it has become increasingly popular in recent years. In the United States, Silas is the 153rd most popular name for boys and the 581st most popular name overall. It is also popular in other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

In popular culture, Silas has been used as a name for various characters in literature, television, and film. In the Harry Potter series, Silas is the name of a wizard who works at the Ministry of Magic. In the television series Bones, Silas is the name of a character. In the television series The Vampire Diaries, Silas is the name of a vampire.

Final Thoughts on the Name Silas

Silas is a strong, classic name for a modern boy. Its origins can be traced back to the 19th century, and its meaning is rooted in Biblical Greek and Latin, referring to peace and tranquility. In recent years, the name has become increasingly popular in the United States and other countries, and it is often used as a name for characters in literature, television, and film.

Infographic of Silas name meaning, which is Meaning man of the forest, Silas is a Latin name.
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Silas Name Popularity

How popular is the name Silas? Here’s everything we know.

Year Rank # Births % Births
1910 391 16 0.0045%
1911 334 32 0.0086%
1912 370 66 0.0131%
1913 355 96 0.0169%
1914 347 139 0.0199%
1915 389 155 0.0171%
1916 404 147 0.0152%
1917 394 165 0.0165%
1918 387 196 0.0183%
1919 397 181 0.0173%
1920 400 183 0.0165%
1921 395 194 0.0169%
1922 409 174 0.0156%
1923 428 166 0.0148%
1924 424 167 0.0144%
1925 396 193 0.0171%
1926 395 185 0.0168%
1927 444 150 0.0136%
1928 457 137 0.0128%
1929 454 131 0.0126%
1930 421 156 0.0149%
1931 464 114 0.0116%
1932 451 120 0.0121%
1933 471 103 0.0111%
1934 467 109 0.0113%
1935 499 95 0.0098%
1936 465 108 0.0112%
1937 578 66 0.0067%
1938 484 105 0.0103%
1939 481 100 0.0098%
1940 519 85 0.008%
1941 528 86 0.0076%
1942 495 112 0.0089%
1943 528 101 0.0077%
1944 571 76 0.0061%
1945 563 72 0.0059%
1946 548 96 0.0065%
1947 560 106 0.0064%
1948 633 69 0.0043%
1949 580 90 0.0056%
1950 617 80 0.005%
1951 748 49 0.0029%
1952 724 53 0.003%
1953 738 54 0.0031%
1954 727 60 0.0033%
1955 886 33 0.0018%
1956 701 71 0.0038%
1957 687 77 0.004%
1958 721 63 0.0033%
1959 804 48 0.0025%
1960 1,022 22 0.0012%
1961 842 42 0.0022%
1962 858 38 0.0021%
1963 847 40 0.0022%
1964 1,112 16 0.0009%
1965 840 39 0.0024%
1966 1,042 18 0.0012%
1967 — 0 0%
1968 1,038 18 0.0012%
1969 1,680 5 0.0003%
1970 1,040 26 0.0016%
1971 1,052 25 0.0017%
1972 1,126 19 0.0014%
1973 978 29 0.0022%
1974 1,006 29 0.0022%
1975 877 47 0.0037%
1976 884 47 0.0036%
1977 981 36 0.0027%
1978 940 42 0.0031%
1979 971 42 0.003%
1980 923 50 0.0034%
1981 921 50 0.0034%
1982 923 51 0.0034%
1983 909 51 0.0035%
1984 1,005 37 0.0025%
1985 943 50 0.0033%
1986 973 47 0.0031%
1987 1,023 43 0.0028%
1988 1,071 45 0.0029%
1989 1,099 48 0.003%
1990 1,093 53 0.0032%
1991 1,097 55 0.0034%
1992 883 92 0.0058%
1993 847 109 0.007%
1994 1,000 74 0.0048%
1995 810 124 0.0082%
1996 741 155 0.0104%
1997 716 170 0.0115%
1998 679 203 0.0136%
1999 624 241 0.0161%
2000 581 298 0.0195%
2001 559 337 0.0224%
2002 435 536 0.0358%
2003 447 522 0.0343%
2004 428 575 0.0377%
2005 413 626 0.0409%
2006 369 783 0.05%
2007 343 907 0.0575%
2008 311 1,054 0.0682%
2009 251 1,368 0.0915%
2010 219 1,616 0.1121%
2011 183 2,106 0.1478%
2012 160 2,493 0.1749%
2013 116 3,402 0.2389%
2014 137 2,924 0.2007%
2015 128 3,174 0.2181%
2016 119 3,392 0.2353%
2017 119 3,296 0.2362%
2018 110 3,470 0.2526%
2019 106 3,531 0.2608%
2020 100 3,524 0.2769%
2021 91 3,863 0.316%
2022 88 3,908 0.2962%

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Silas

If you like Silas, you’ll love these other names like Silas.

What names are variants of Silas?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Silas.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Silvan

Latin

Silvano

Woods

Latin

Silvanus

Woods

Latin

Silvaon

Latin

Silvio

Woods

Latin

Sylas

Form of Silas

Latin

Sylvan

A variant form of Sylvanus.

Latin

What names sound like Silas?

If you like how Silas sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Silas.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Celso

High, lofty

Latin

Sills

Beam, threshold

English

Lists With Silas

Find inspiration in these baby boy name lists featuring the name Silas.

Siblings of Silas

Mamas with kids named Silas also have kids with these names.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Cora

Maiden

Greek

Maddox

Son of Madoc

Welsh

Evangeline

Good news

English

Felicity

Happiness

Latin

Helena

Sun ray, shining light

Greek

Levi

Joined together

Hebrew

Rayna

Counsel; song

Scandinavian

Rory

Red king

Irish

Wilder

Hunter

German

Joah

God is his brother

Hebrew

Willow

Willow tree

English

Troy

Foot soldier

Irish

34 Comments

  1. I chose the name Silas as an homage to my maternal grandfather’s surname, “Silavong.”

    Reply

  2. We had this name lower on our list originally, but it grew on both of us when we realized it means “of the forest.” We are both big hikers and bonded over that when we were just friends, and we thought Silas would actually be a wood dragon this year according to the Chinese zodiac. It turns out he’s actually a water rabbit, because he was born two days before the Lunar New Year happened. Either way, the name was our favorite by the time we realized, so we just went with it. The bonus is how different it is compared to other boy names we were considering, so I wouldn’t change a thing.

    Reply

  3. I wanted to give our son a biblical name with meaning. Silas means forest or wood, and the outdoors are my favorite place to connect to God. Also, Silas in the Bible was a teacher, prophet, author, and missionary, and I pray my son will also be a mighty man of God.

    Reply

  4. I simply chose Silas because it was the name that spoke to me from the beginning. I think it is a great name because it leaves no room for bad nicknames, like Sully… sorry Sullivan lovers. I chose Silas because it sounded vampiric. I think the best reference to this name is it came with no preconceived notions of what he was supposed to look, act, or even seem like.

    Reply

  5. Silas is a name I have liked since I was a teenager. It is the name of an apostle in the Bible.

    Reply

  6. Man of the forest
    Prayed for

    Reply

  7. It means forest, which we dig. We may have gone with Forrest were it not for Gump ?
    It’s also easy to pronounce and spell but still unique.
    It feels a little “farmy” but not too bad. And we are country folks, so hey.

    Reply

  8. Silas means “Woods or Forest” and his dad is from Montana. I am from Florida, so we made his middle name Kai meaning “Ocean” so his name is a blend of both our natural surroundings!

    Reply

  9. We found Silas to be a unique name that not to many people would choose. Plus it flowed well with the last name.

    Reply

  10. It’s the only boy name my husband (100% Mexican) and I (100% white) could agree on. It means “of the woods” and we may have conceived while camping. It also is a biblical name. Silas, in the Bible, persevered through intense circumstances with Gods grace and strength.

    Reply

  11. I love the name Silas for its earthy feel (it means “of the forest”) and its Bible connection (Silas is active in the early Church in the New Testament), and in my mind it has a strong sound to it. On a practical side, it grows well from babyhood to adulthood, it’s clear when spoken and written, and is a simple pairing for a more complicated last name.

    Reply

  12. Silas’ name actually came from my favorite show, “The Vampire Diaries”. His character was actually the doppelg?nger of Stefan Salvatore and he was definitely a villain, but the name was so unique that I got set on it and I was able to actually use it 5 years later when I had my son.

    Reply

  13. We looked for S names with nature meanings and chose Silas because it means ‘of the forest, or man of the forest’

    Reply

  14. It means “of the forest” and I grew up on 10 acres of woods. We love it’s “old times” feel as well.

    Reply

  15. We are famous

    Reply

  16. It took a long time to choose a name. I didn’t realize how difficult it could be. With our last name Rear the names I picked just didn’t sound right ? So my husband chose Silas Ezekiel. Took myself a bit to like it but fell in love.
    Silas means “man of the forest” and we live in Alaska where the forest is our backyard. Ezekiel means “God will strengthen”. We are Christian and my husband always wanted Ezekiel to be part of our sons name.

    Reply

    • Iove the name Silas it is a pretty name

      Reply

  17. My son is now 10 weeks 4 days old. His name Is Silas Walker, his dad and i was trying to think of kind of unique not used much names and came up with Silas and i fell in love with it, he was going to have his dad’s middle name “Duane” but last minute it was changed, my sister expressed how much she liked Walker and how good it sounded together so thats his name! Silas Walker

    Reply

    • I like that am also called silas

      Reply

  18. My husband has always loved the name and I love the uniqueness of it

    Reply

  19. My husband has always loved the name throughout his life. When he mentioned it to me I instantly fell in love with the uniqueness of it.

    Reply

  20. It is a family name. My husbands great grandfather was named Silas.

    Reply

  21. I love the name Silas. Its diffrent and not mean people in my area have the name Silas

    Reply

  22. We chose Biblical names for our kids that are neither too common or too strange or hard to pronounce. Silas was a neat person in the Bible- he was noted as a leader and a great speaker.

    Reply

  23. We chose the name Silas because we liked the sound and the uniqueness of it. We normally go for names with really good meanings. This name in particular doesn’t have a special meaning persay, but we like who Silas was in the Bible. He was a helper to the prophets in ministry for Jesus. We are Christians, so we really liked that aspect of his name.

    Reply

  24. Its wierd sometimes the name silas just popped up in my thoughts. I just loved the name Silas

    Reply

  25. I was searching for Latin names when I found out I was having a boy, and Silas has stuck with us! Silas is now 2 years old and I always get compliments on his name, it’s not too uncommon as there is an older boy at his daycare also named Silas, but it is not too popular either which is great! His Oma had the honour of choosing his middle name, so he goes by “Silas Percival“, I am still in love with this name and believe it will age well on my little guy!

    Reply

  26. Silas means “asked for” in Aramaic, and is a biblical name (see Acts 15-16).

    Reply

  27. He was named after the book Silas Marner. Middle name Grey, because we decided there were enough different spellings all of our kids could have some variation of “Grey” for their middle name.

    Reply

  28. I was looking up biblical names one day and I saw Silas but didn’t choose it tell later. I liked it cause it was different also the meaning said it meant 3rd child on page I was looking at so I thought it was neat and he is my 3rd child ?

    Reply

  29. Just liked it. Boys names are hard.

    Reply

  30. When choosing this name we felt it suited our son because of the definition. Man of the woods and it also means third (he was our third child).

    Reply

  31. Silas, meaning of the forest, was perfect choice for a nature loving family. Had he been a girl, he would’ve been named Sylvia, which has the same meaning, both originally derived from the name Silvanus. My husband is a hunter so his middle name is Archer. Someone once said to me, Silas Archer, so he has like a little robin hood thing going on there. I though that was cute

    Reply

  32. My first sons name is Silas. I knew that I would have a son named Silas since I was 16 years old. I heard the name in a tv show and immediately fell in love with it. Almost a decade later when I actually had my son, I forgot the musings of my past and fell in love all over again when I was reading a baby name book. It was fate.

    Reply

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