Baby Name of the Day: Silas

The baby name Silas blends ancient roots with modern appeal.

Thanks to SG for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

WHAT DOES THE NAME SILAS MEAN?

The baby name Silas traces its roots to the Latin name Sylvanus or Silvanus. In turn, Silvanus comes from the Latin word silva, meaning forest or the woods.

Sylvester, Silvia, Sylvain, and Sylvie all share the same origin.

And so the meaning of the name Silas is quite modern, a woodsy nature name.

Two other theories are sometimes mentioned:

• Ancient author Virgil penned the Aenid between 29 and 19 BC. In it, he mentions an Etrsucan leader named Asilas. While the name is connected to historical figures, it seems unlikely to be the origin of the name Silas. 
• The Hebrew name Saul was sometimes used as a form of Silas, but that seems to be a translation, not an origin. An Aramaic link is often mentioned, but that still feels a little fuzzy. Saul means “asked for,” a heavy-hitting Old Testament name. 

In contrast, the connection between the Latin word and Silas has been well-established for generations. And there’s no question where parents discovered the baby name Silas.

SILAS in the NEW TESTAMENT

The original Silas was an early Christian convert.

He accompanied the future Saint Paul on his missionary journeys throughout to Antioch, Syria, and Macedonia. Silas is considered a persuasive speaker and a respected leader.

In fact, he’s eventually considered a saint. 

The name’s inclusion in the New Testament meant that Protestant parents would have discovered it when they turned to the Bible for baby name inspiration. 

That said, at least two more saints Silvanus are recorded over the next few centuries, so this name has been used in several different faith traditions.

Still, the Protestant Reformation gets credit for surfacing baby names like Caleb and Levi and Silas, too. 

SILAS as a LITERARY NAME

First, a fun fact: poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge left Cambridge in 1793 and joined the British Army Royal Dragoons. He used the alias Silas Tomkyn Comberbache.

The baby name Silas becomes literary thanks to George Eliot’s 1861 work, Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe.

When the story opens, Marner is a weaver, facing a false accusation of stealing from his church. Marner loses nearly everything, and then he’s the victim of a robbery. But despite ill fortune, he slowly rebuilds his life, eventually taking in an orphaned child and raising her as his own.

All ends well.

An 1864 mystery novel titled Uncle Silas, by Sheridan Le Fanu, similarly ends happily. 

If the Puritans revived the name in the 16th century or so, Silas would’ve been reasonably well-established by the name Coleridge borrowed it as a pseudonym. 

Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Nathaniel Hawthorne all used the name for characters, too, though none are particularly well-known. 

American author William Dean Howells wrote The Rise of Silas Lapham in 1885. While Howells remains a significant figure from a literary perspective, the novel is not broadly familiar today.

SILAS IN AMERICA

It’s no surprise to hear the baby name Silas in the New World.

Silas Deane was an early American ambassador to France. (Though he’s overshadowed by fellow ambassador Benjamin Franklin.) His career ended in scandal; though he was posthumously cleared of any wrongdoing. The family home in Connecticut is now a historic landmark.

Other early Americans borrowed the name from the Bible, too.

Captain Silas Talbot commanded the USS Constitution during the American Revolution.

New York governor Silas Wright shared his name with his father; Wright held office in the mid-1840s.

Major General Silas Casey served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Plenty of historical figures answer to the name. The name ranked in the US Top 200 when data was first reported, for the 1880s, and remained there into the 1890s.

That suggests Silas could be on many family names lists, and yet, it tumbled toward obscurity during the middle of the 20th century and stayed there for decades. 

POP CULTURE

In recent years, Silas has been among the most stylish of choices. 

An impressive range of uses come to mind, from Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel chose the name for their firstborn.  is familiar for other reasons, including:

• A sinister monk in The Da Vinci Code.
• A character on Showtime’s Weeds.
• Actor Silas Weir Mitchell is known for his roles in series like 
• Neil Gaiman’s vampire-esque character in The Graveyard Book.
• HBO’s Deadwood also gave us a Silas, played by an actor named Titus.
• A villain on The CW’s The Vampire Diaries.
• Reality hit Duck Dynasty included Silas “Si” Robertson.
• Congolese footballer Silas Wamangituka Fundu is one of several athletes by the name.
• American writer Silas Dwane House and actor Silas Weir Mitchell were among the famous people to help raise the name’s profile.

The Vampire Diaries, in particular, has fueled the rise of several popular names. Duck Dynasty, too, may have contributed to the name’s rise.

In April 2015, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel gave the name to their new son, Silas Randall Timberlake. The proud father would later name his fourth studio album “Man of the Woods” in honor of his son. It’s also the name of a single, as well as Timberlake’s 2018 tour. Timberlake often explained that his son’s name inspired the album title. That makes Silas one of those baby boy names where the meaning is broadly known.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME SILAS?

All of this puts the boy’s name Silas on the list of familiar choices. But for years, the name languished in obscurity.

Sure, there was the novel. Silas Marner inspired a BBC/Masterpiece Theater adaptation in the 1980s, starring Ben Kingsley in the title role. But that’s not exactly a pop culture phenomenon likely to inspire thousands of parents.

Instead, by the 1920s, the baby name Silas had faded pretty dramatically. It left the US Top 1000 entirely in the 1960s, briefly.

And then it returned, teetering on the edge of the rankings, through the 1980s.

The comeback started, slowly, during the 1990s. By 1997, the name ranked in the 700s. By 2002, Silas ranked in the 500s.

As of 2024, the baby name Silas stands at #81 in the US. 

Variants like Sylas have seen some use, too. That spelling comes in at #427. 

While it’s a stretch to call Silas broadly international, it’s been popular in Denmark and the Netherlands, too. 

MODERN APPEAL

An earlier version of this post called the baby name Silas a “Future Top 100 Name.”

That’s true today, except it’s a Current Top 100 name. It just makes sense:

• It’s a nature name, a subtle one in the key of Leo or Asher.
• That S ending is quite stylish – think Brooks.
• It can shorten to Si/Sy or maybe even Sil/Syl, but this name also feels nicely nickname-proof.
• We do still love borrowed-from-the-Bible choices, like similar names Noah and Luke
• While you might run across the occasional Sylas, it’s also easily spelled, with a single pronunciation: si-las, and very few variations.

It’s a little gentler than Cyrus, more mainstream than Linus. 

And while a very small number of girls have used the name, it’s overwhelmingly used for males. 

A mix of a deeply ancient and storied name with so much modern style makes Silas absolutely irresistible.

What do you think of the baby name Silas?

Originally published on October 30, 2009, this post was revised substantially and reposted on April 27, 2015, August 16, 2022, and July 21, 2025.