Silas Meaning in the Bible

Silas is the shortened Greek form of Silvanus, itself likely from the Latin silva, 'forest' — though many scholars connect it back to the Aramaic Sheila, a form of Saul, 'asked for.' Both forms appear in the New Testament: Luke calls him Silas in Acts, while Paul and Peter call him Silvanus in the epistles (2 Corinthians 1:19; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 1 Peter 5:12). They are the same man.

He enters the story in Acts 15 as one of the 'chief men among the brethren' chosen to carry the Jerusalem Council's decision to Antioch, and he becomes Paul's travelling companion after the sharp disagreement with Barnabas over John Mark. His defining scene is Acts 16. In Philippi, he and Paul are beaten with rods and thrown into the inner prison. 'And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them' (Acts 16:25). The earthquake follows, the doors open, and the jailer — who had been about to kill himself — asks what he must do to be saved.

Two things stand out about Silas as a name to give a child. He was a Roman citizen, like Paul, which is why the magistrates panicked the next morning. And Peter's closing line in 1 Peter 5:12 — 'By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly' — means Silas was trusted as a letter-carrier and likely a secretary by both of the New Testament's leading apostles.

Silas re-entered the US top 1000 in 1990 and the top 100 by 2020. Two syllables, ends in the currently fashionable -s, and is one of the few biblical boys' names that is neither overused nor obscure.