Meaning and history
Silas is the name of a companion of Saint Paul in the New Testament. It is probably a shortened form of Silvanus, the name Paul uses for him in the epistles, though Silvanus and Silas may also be Latin and Greek forms of the Hebrew name Saul via Aramaic. As an English name, it did not come into use until after the Protestant Reformation, and George Eliot later used it for the title character of Silas Marner (1861).
20062006: 800 births, rank #372
2007: 940 births, rank #343
2008: 1,074 births, rank #309
2009: 1,377 births, rank #252
2010: 1,632 births, rank #219
20112011: 2,118 births, rank #183
2012: 2,497 births, rank #160
2013: 3,413 births, rank #116
2014: 2,937 births, rank #137
2015: 3,191 births, rank #128
20162016: 3,417 births, rank #119
2017: 3,340 births, rank #120
2018: 3,518 births, rank #110
2019: 3,566 births, rank #105
2020: 3,645 births, rank #100
20212021: 3,916 births, rank #91
2022: 4,032 births, rank #86
2023: 4,105 births, rank #80
2024: 4,127 births, rank #81
20252025: 4,639 births, rank #71
Silas has risen sharply in the modern US rankings, moving from #602 in 2000 to #71 in 2025. It now stands at #71 for boys. That year also produced its highest recorded birth count, at 4,639.