Silas

Silas meaning

Silas is an international and Christian boy's name of Latin origin (via Greek).

Short form of Silvanus, "silvan"; Silvanus was the Roman god of woods

Also used to mean: of the forest

Silas is the name of St Paul's companion on his second missionary journey, who was beaten and imprisoned with him at Philippi. Strong's and Thayer's lexicon treat Silas as a contraction of Silouanos, the Latin Silvanus, and Paul's letters use that longer form. Strong's glosses it 'silvan', and Lewis & Short give Silvanus as the Roman god of woods and fields, from silva, 'a wood'. Baby-name lists give 'of the forest', which matches. English readers also know the name from George Eliot's novel Silas Marner. It is said SY-lus.

Source: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, G4609 · entry Silas · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Strong's G4609, Silas (with Thayer's entry) · Strong's G4610, Silouanos · Lewis & Short, Silvanus (via Logeion)

Famous namesakes

• Silas, companion of St Paul
• Silas Marner, title character of George Eliot's novel

Popularity abroad

• #71 United States, boys 2025 (up 10 from 81 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #585 England and Wales, boys 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Related names

Also meaning nature

More names of Greek origin

Browse more like this