Silas
Pronunciation/ˈsləs/
GenderMale
Origin
Word/nameLatin
Region of originItalia
Other names
Related namesSylvanus, Silvanus, Sylvain (French), Silvan (Dutch, German), Silvano (Italian)

Silas is a common given name and a lesser-known surname. It is a cognate of Silvanus.

Etymology

The name comes from the early Christian disciple Silas. He is consistently called "Silas" in Acts, but the Latin Silvanus, which means "of the forest," is always used by Paul and in the First Epistle of Peter; it is likely that "Silvanus" is the Romanized version of the original "Silas," or that "Silas" is the Greek nickname for "Silvanus." It has been suggested that Silas is the Greek version of the Aramaic "Seila," a version of the Hebrew "Saul".[1][2][3] The Latin name "Silvanus" may be derived from pre-Roman Italian languages.

Variants

  • Danish – Silas
  • Dutch – Silas
  • English – Silas, Sylas, Si, Sy
  • French – Sylvain
  • German – Silas, Silvan
  • Italian – Silvano

People

Given name

Surname

Fictional characters

References

  1. Fitzmyer, Joseph J. (1998). The Anchor Bible: The Acts of the Apostles. New York: Doubleday. p. 564. ISBN 0-385-49020-8.
  2. Cheyne, Thomas Kelly; Black, John Sutherland (1903). Encyclopædia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political and Religious History, the Archæology, Geography, and Natural History of the Bible, Volume 4. Toronto: George N Morang & Company Ltd. pp. 4514–4521.
  3. Smith, Barry D. "1st Letter To The Thessalonians". www.mycrandall.ca. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
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