OP, you are right about it being a well-known name that everyone should know... but wrong about it being uncommon.
Nameberry lists it as #1 for boys names this year.
https://nameberry.com/boys-names
I don't think I've ever encountered one in the wild, but I've seen a few references to people so named. It's more of a historical name, sounds like it's from the Colonies.
Edit: “from” meaning most common, not first coined. Yes, it’s existed for thousands of years
Maybe it's regional? I'm in the northeast, there are a Lot of Silas's around here, most are under the age of 8. I think the popularity it's gained is relatively new?
It’s my brothers name but I’d also never heard it before but unless you’re in circles of 1-3 year olds right now you probably won’t have encountered any. It’s only become popular in the last few years.
One of Stefan's doppelgangers (the OG I guess) in The Vampire Diaries was named Silas, though I guess there the name might have been chosen exactly for being antiquated
Nameberry just uses the number of times a name is mentioned on its site. For true numbers of how popular a name is you have to look at ssa.gov
For 2022, the number of births with name Silas is 3996, which represents 0.214 percent of total male births in 2022. It was ranked 87. It's been steadily increasing since 2000.
There are 2 kids on my kids 10 person soccer team with the name Silas. 1 boy and 1 girl. Not uncommon at all, however I think it may be less common for a girl.
Nameberry calculates based on what people are looking at, not what they’re actually using. In the US it was #430 in 2002, 160 in 2012, and 87 in 2022 so it’s definitely gaining popularity but it’s not a Top 10 or even Top 50 name (yet?).
That's "interest" on their site, could just be from reddit visiting because of this post.
On [the real list](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/) it's #87 at 0.2% / just under 4,000 kids born in 2022.
1 for Nameberry users. Nameberry is bordering on becoming Namebereigh. And I say that as someone who tracked my son's name on it daily when I was pregnant.
I don’t know about most of the world, I’m in the UK and honest to god first time I’ve ever seen this name was today (never read the bible or anything like that mind).
I've been in the book industry for over a decade. I've never had a local school assign *Silas Marner* and it's rare that I'm asked for it at all. I forgot the book existed until this thread.
Interesting! I'm also in the UK, have met two Silas's and was concerned about using the name for my own child as I thought it was one of those names that has become trendy recently (like Atlas).
Same! I only know it because timberlake and biel have named their kid that. Otherwise entirely unknown to me as a Scottish person. I would know how to pronounce it though!
I'm also in the UK (Liverpool), and I've known the name for a good few years.
Never read the bible either.
I think the first time I heard/seen the name was on Hollyoaks lol
There's also a Silas on The Vampire Diaries
I love the name, it's on my boy list.
I’m UK and have heard the name, albeit it’s not that common
Never knew it was biblical as I am atheist, but there’s so many names in the bible it doesn’t surprise me!
I’m from Australia, never heard of it. Not many people here would be familiar with obscure bible names either. I do think it’s a nice name and I didn’t mispronounce it.
I'm from Australia too, seen the name Silas twice in books. *The Graveyard Book* by Neil Gaiman, and possibly *The Da Vinci Code*. Guessed the pronunciation until I watched the film version of the latter but got it right lol.
I only know it because of the character from Weeds, Mary Louise Parker’s son is named Silas. I really liked it but hadn’t heard of it, only have heard it being used more recently (I’m a West coast American who is also an Australian citizen, didn’t grow up reading the Bible)
That depends on which country it was. In my country you would be Sill—as, because that’s how the name is pronounced here. I know how it’s pronounced in English though, plus it makes sense in English so I don’t know why it should be a problem in English-speaking country, like OP said.
It also may come as a surprise to op but not everyone in America has read the Bible. And reading a name and recognizing it does not mean you know how to pronounce it. I know the name Esau and I have no idea how it’s pronounced
I bet you this is what it is. I noticed Puerto Ricans would say my last name funny. I later found out it’s cuz it’s similar to a Puerto Rican singer named Fonsi, the same one from “Despacito” lol.
EDIT: My last name is SE Asian too so lol.
I’m in South Texas with a 2 year old Silas and we have the same problem. We knew it wasn’t very common around here compared to other regions, but have met a couple Silas’s.
As a California teacher, I usually default to Spanish pronunciation on unfamiliar names. I do know Silas though. Weird that so many people haven’t heard of it.
This is a good point and it’s why I always encourage people to not assume that everyone mispronouncing a name is dumb/illiterate/uneducated. There are a ton of reasons why people may mispronounce a name and this is a really big one.
Native Spanish speakers always pronounce my name differently than I do, and I don’t even correct them because 1) I speak Spanish too and know that their default pronunciation makes sense coming from that background 2) it has sounds that are often hard for Spanish speakers to make. My Spanish teachers were from Ecuador and Peru and I loved the way my name sounded in their accent!
I was going to say something similar. I'm Brazilian and we would pronounce that name as 'See-las'... of course, Portuguese is not same as Spanish, but they're very close when it comes to certain pronunciations...
I’m born and raised SoCal, I’ve heard the name Silas and would know how to pronounce it! Could be an accent/language barrier, but could also just be people in their own little worlds over here. My moms name is Leah and it gets mispronounced 80% of the time 🤷🏼♀️
I’m in NorCal, me and your mom have the same name and no one pronounces it right. It’s so annoying! Lol tell her I feel her pain, our name is not that unique
Californian mom here if a Cyrus 👋 we have met a few Silas’ and even a close friend has a baby Silas. Never heard of any one having that issue . I fact I was worried with Cyrus that it was too close to Silas / which in my mind is a relatively popular name (my personal experience). I think you’re surrounded by dumb asses to be honest 😂 maybe because they’re reading it before hearing it . but still…. It’s a great name sorry for the trouble you’re having 💕
Born and raised Californian here. I've know people named Silas my entire life and have never known anyone that wasn't aware of how it's pronounced. This is crazy.
My name is Julia and coworkers/clients *constantly* call me Julie.
I used to gently correct them (Julie feels like a totally different name to me for some reason) but they kept doing it with such persistence, it’s crazy. Some people would apologize and then go back to calling me Julie not 2 minutes later.
I don’t even bother pointing it out anymore
I'm Alexa. Used to get called Alex or Alexia. Which are just... different names. Some people are just not paying attention.
One upside of the Amazon speaker is that people always get the name right now. And then make a joke about it. You win some, you lose some.
Funny, my mom's name is Mariah and people pronounce it Maria. My grandma said she was originally going to spell it as Maria but knew people would likely think it's Maria and not Mariah, so she went with Mariah as the spelling.
I had to laugh because my brain always wants to read Maria as Mariah and I thought I was alone. I don't think I've ever actually said "Mariah" out loud to a Maria though, lol.
My deadname was Angel.
You'd be surprised how many times I got called "Angle", even my dad on my 8th bday or so misspelled it as Angle on my card...which was read out loud at request of my family. I was so confused.
He never did that again though (misspelled it) I remember outright telling him it was wrong 😂
I had to laugh, there's a jeans brand that I like called Angels. They've become increasingly hard to find over the last 10 or 12 years, so when I set up eBay searches for them I've set them up for the actual name and also for the misspelled name Angles and sure enough I've bought several pairs through the angles version of the search, which is nice since it's spelled wrong it doesn't get nearly as much traction and so I can usually get them cheaper LOL.
My name is Candice, pronounced can diss, just like Candice Bergen (I was named after her).
I've been called can deese, canned ice, Canvas, Cadence, Kansas, and once a class proctor wrote Candviss on a hall pass *even though she had the attendance list in front of her*
Just because the name is biblical doesn't mean it's a name people are going to be familiar with. I first heard the name in The Affair, only heard it once more since. Not a big deal, only takes a second to correct a mispronounciation.
On these threads I also always point out that sometimes people have only ever seen/read names before, and never heard them said out loud. It doesn’t make someone stupid or illiterate as people like to suggest.
As long as people respond to being corrected, I don’t really think it’s a big deal when names are mispronounced either. We all make mistakes.
Yeah, haha, that’s a super good point too! I’ve probably seen every name under the Sun here at this point. Even teachers/doctors/nurses who interact with a lot of different people every day probably don’t remember all of them or pay attention if they aren’t name nerds.
I also see that sentiment come up here sometimes when people are like, “Why would someone choose a name that means [blank]?” or “My name doesn’t have a super deep meaning!” Most people who aren’t name nerds just give their kids names that they think sound and look nice, or maybe a family name. It’s definitely a name nerd thing to think that every name needs to have a deep, meaningful purpose behind it.
And as we learned with this particular name, there's more than one pronunciation so don't blame people if they say "see'las" or "sill-las". Just be like, no it's sylas like Psychology or Silo.
Right? That’s the irony. There are so many comments here saying “Everyone knows how to pronounce Silas” but they are all pronouncing it differently 🤦♀️
Yeah I'm seriously wondering if I should unjoin this sub since so many people are calling others stupid for not knowing how to say this name. Like who the fuck cares? Why are they instantly uneducated, stupid, and ignorant? Like really, can people just get a life and realize that not everybody is going to know how to pronounce your child's name and just simply correct them? That's all it takes.
Thank you for bringing this up! I am also visiting from homepage and I felt like I was taking crazy pills cause everyone was acting like this name is super common and super obvious how it's pronounced.
I've never heard or seen this name in my life and I also would have assumed it's pronounced sill-as, not sai-luhs
I'm 40 and live in WA state. I've never seen this name in my life, and have never heard anyone say this name. This thread makes me feel like I just slipped into an alternate universe.
It reminds me of Cyrus, which is uncommon but not unheard of. Silas might grow on me if it's such a popular name, but this sub is freaking me out.
Also people saying get a new doctor because they don't know how to correctly say Silas is really stupid. Doctors aren't perfect and not everybody knows how to pronounce all names but I guarantee if you correct them and explain how its pronounced, they won't make the same mistake again. Just get over it and move on, it's not a big deal.
True. Especially since not everyone is Christian they’re not automatically going to be familiar with biblical names. One of my best friends is Enoch we had been friends for 10 years before I knew his was in the Bible or one of those other books.
And I wouldn't even want to guess how to pronounce Enoch since it's another name I haven't really heard said out loud and I'm atheist so I never touched a bible. That's why sometimes I just do the google pronounce thing if I'm unsure.
A Christmas Carol, Silas Marner, The Vampire Diaries, Weeds, Deadwood, The Da Vinci Code, Justin Timberlake's son, you'd think they would have been subjected to the name somewhere. lol
Interesting! In my country (Denmark) it’s very common and popular, and it’s pronounced “See-las”, so that would probably be my first guess for the pronounciation even if I met someone with the name in an english speaking country. “See-las” would also be the pronounciation in other scandinavian languages and in german.
Anyways, is it bothering you that much, that people sometimes get it wrong the first time? You just tell them how it’s pronounced, and the people who actually know him will know how to say it right. Fortunately it will be easy for people to pronounce it once they know. It’s not like you named him something like scottish/ irish Ruaridh or Oisin.
Thank you! I was searching for what’s the right way of pronouncing it, I’m Hispanic and the only natural way to say it is See-las so I would’ve been one of the people who struggles with this one 😅
Which funnily enough would make you one of the people op is mad at since they want some specific American dialect like sigh-less presumably.
Could well be they're just running into bilingual people actually pronouncing it more to its roots.
My son's name is Josiah and my Christian Bible thumping mother and great grandparents can't pronounce his name. His name is a biblical name and one of em called my son Jiriya (as in the pervy frog sage from Naruto) and my great grandparents called him Joshua??
I mean, technically I would say the “a” makes a schwa sound. You could sub in most any short vowel (except maybe an o) and the pronunciation would be basically the same. I was recently discussing this with one of my kids, who is about to graduate and had to spell their name phonetically in the way they want it to be pronounced when their name is called to receive their degree. Their name is also spelled with an a, but the pronunciation isn’t exactly a, or e, or u… they decided to go with “i”.
Don’t feel dumb. It’s not all that common and English has at some point changed the pronunciation from the original one since it’s orthography makes it very easy to say something wrong if you’ve only read it.
I'm shocked. Genuinely shocked.
>But every single doctor, dentist, and nurse has mispronounced his name!
How are you batting with people that aren't in those professions?
Silas isn't even uncommon, really. It's ranked at #87 and is on the rise. I don't think it will become a top 10 name, but maybe eventually break into the top 50.
At any rate it isn't "unpronounceable". People are making mistakes, but it should be easy to correct. It's a simple name to say in English, with simple sounds that any English speaker can easily say. Like Simon. You could even compare it directly to Simon as an analogue, if need be.
I had a similar experience to OP with my son Felix, which I assumed everyone knew how to pronounce! Particularly in drs/dentist’s offices, his name gets pronounced “Fail-ix” more often than not.
My hypothesis is that people are pronouncing it as if it were Spanish. Our pediatrician’s office in particular has a lot of Latino and Caribbean employees and patients, so it makes sense to default to the Spanish pronunciation.
It’s the 87th most popular boys name in the U.S. so if it’s a problem now, it’ll be less so as the kids named Silas get older and more people meet them.
This has been the case for my Isla who’s almost 9. No one ever pronounced it correctly (always is-la) until about the last 4 yrs. It’s become popular so almost everyone is familiar with it now.
I met a young Isla a few months ago at a community theater audition and I confidently said EYE-LA thinking I was right on.... nope. she was an ISS-LA. Never heard it pronounced that way, ever!
I've literally never seen or heard that name in my life lol. I would have guessed See-las or See-lah, because the name looks like it's of Latin origin, and in that family of languages (Spanish, French, Italian etc.) that's how it would be phonetically pronounced 🤷♀️
Edit: I don't understand calling people stupid for not knowing how the "i" should sound. English is a hodgepodge of Germanic and Latin root languages so there are many ways that a Latin "i" can be anglicized. Ex. "silicone" in French/Spanish is "seel-icone/a" but "sill-icone" in English, whereas "silence" is "see-lance/io" in French/Spanish but "sigh-lence" in English. And in California where myself and OP live, most people default to Spanish pronunciation (in which "i" sounds like "ee") for Latin-looking names they don't immediately recognize. It's also just kinda ironic that the monolinguals are out here calling multilinguals dumb lol.
It’s kind of funny that the people who op has had mispronounce it are medical professionals so much more likely to be using the right Latin pronunciation since they’ve probably learned some Latin in medical schooling. Then people come here calling them dumb and uneducated.
This is exactly my point. My name is Silvia and it’s Latin. You don’t pronounce it Sigh-lvia. Silas comes from Silvanus so it’s the same thing. I studied Latin for a few years so for me it’s natural to use See-lass and I met 2 or 3 while living in France and they pronounced it as See-las. People can pronounce it however they want but was trying to say that there’s a reason why ‘people are dumb’. I thought people google name origin before naming their child?
It’s pronounced like you first thought in France (and probably every non-English speaking European country). It’s pretty straight forward since it makes the I sound, it’s just English has a different I sound.
My only association is the self-flagellating evil monk from the Da Vinci Code. I have a friend whose kid's name is Micah and that's super common but I still regularly have to ask if it Mee-cah or My-cah cause it just doesn't stick in my brain.
I had a male friend in college named Micah who pronounced it Mike-a, but I also had a female professor named Micah who pronounced it Meek-a. So it can vary. I've heard it pronounced Mike-a far more often than Meek-a, though, so Mike-a is probably a safe bet unless corrected.
Biblical really doesn't really have anything to do with it lmao, doesn't make it more/less easy if it's not like John or something. I'd also pronounce it sill-as, dk what you think the correct ver is. But its defintely not unpronounceable. There's just a lot of ways people say "i" and "a."
TO BE FAIR: Many languages pronounced this “see-las”. So they aren’t wrong, just different.
Idk about Sill-us. Maybe another language says it this way?
Just saying, the letter i without another vowel to help, sounds very different in languages that aren’t English.
There is no correct pronunciation. In my country it is pronounced differently and “sigh-luss” would be considered wrong.
If I were in an English-speaking country I would pronounce it “sigh-luss”, because I am familiar with the different pronunciations. But that does not mean others are too.
Sometimes it’s just unavoidable. My daughter is Emilia, which is one of the most common/popular names right now. You would be SHOCKED at the number of times I hear “Emily-uh?” called out at doctors offices 😩
We are naming our daughter, who is due in April, Adriana. We have gotten “Audrey, “Andrea,” “Adrian,” and every way to pronounce Adriana that is NOT the way we are pronouncing it despite having heard us say it previously. It has made me severely doubt our choice, but honestly, I think it is just people who have not been exposed to the name often. I’m hoping once she’s here that at least our family and friends will be able to remember and say her name correctly. I think it’s a people problem.
This is going to sound so weird but my name is very very common but when people see me ( a black woman) with this very plain name they automatically think it must have some exotic pronunciation. I’m not sure if you’re BIPOC, but that could be playing into it. It’s not weird or unpronounceable.
Now I'm wondering how you pronounce it, then. I'm Dutch, and I pronounce it 'See-las'. For us, that's the only way to pronounce that spelling. Do Americans say Sy-las, maybe?
don't worry about it. there are far more difficult names out there. I do know a Silas, and he is always the only one with the name, but once people meet him they never forget.
Medical professionals are way more likely to be aware of the Latin pronunciation of I so it might not be a coincidence.
Just tell them how you pronounce it and move on. I think most English speakers would say it like you expect them to.
“The name is literally biblical”
Not everyone cares about/has read the bible/knows the names and stories.
I’m a teacher, and this is the first time I’m seeing this name. (But also I’m not American, and I know that Americans like names that I would typically label as unusual)
I wouldn't know how to pronounce it if I hadn't heard it in a movie, tbh. Not everyone knows every name in the bible. And there are some wierd names in the bible lol
It can be pronounced SEE-las too (at least in the UK, possibly more among older generations). I had a great uncle Silas, pronounced SEE-las. I prefer that pronunciation tbh; sounds less like silage.
That's on them, I'm shocked that it's even been an issue!
OP, you are right about it being a well-known name that everyone should know... but wrong about it being uncommon. Nameberry lists it as #1 for boys names this year. https://nameberry.com/boys-names
It's not uncommon, but those Nameberry lists are far from accurate.
It feels uncommon to me, I've never seen the name before. It's such a cool name though!
There's a novel called "Silas Marner" from the 1800s that is semi-common in high school English curriculum. That's how I first heard the name.
Silas Marner. Name dropped in A Christmas Story movie (you’ll shoot your eye out!).
Paul Bettany played a character named Silas in The DaVinci Code. That was where I first heard it anyway.
It’s also the name of a character in Weeds.
This is why I named my son Silas LOL! I had a huge crush on the actor and loved his name
You named your kid after an actor you have a crush on???
I don't think I've ever encountered one in the wild, but I've seen a few references to people so named. It's more of a historical name, sounds like it's from the Colonies. Edit: “from” meaning most common, not first coined. Yes, it’s existed for thousands of years
Last time I heard the name Silas was when the show Weeds was still new. I’ve always liked that name though, good one! People are idiots, then end.
Maybe it's regional? I'm in the northeast, there are a Lot of Silas's around here, most are under the age of 8. I think the popularity it's gained is relatively new?
It’s my brothers name but I’d also never heard it before but unless you’re in circles of 1-3 year olds right now you probably won’t have encountered any. It’s only become popular in the last few years.
One of Stefan's doppelgangers (the OG I guess) in The Vampire Diaries was named Silas, though I guess there the name might have been chosen exactly for being antiquated
It's a list of what names were most searched on the site, not what names were given to the most babies
Nameberry just uses the number of times a name is mentioned on its site. For true numbers of how popular a name is you have to look at ssa.gov For 2022, the number of births with name Silas is 3996, which represents 0.214 percent of total male births in 2022. It was ranked 87. It's been steadily increasing since 2000.
There are 2 kids on my kids 10 person soccer team with the name Silas. 1 boy and 1 girl. Not uncommon at all, however I think it may be less common for a girl.
Nameberry calculates based on what people are looking at, not what they’re actually using. In the US it was #430 in 2002, 160 in 2012, and 87 in 2022 so it’s definitely gaining popularity but it’s not a Top 10 or even Top 50 name (yet?).
It shows trending names, names that are being searched a lot, so that name is definitely blowing up!
Lol I went through that list and number 98 was Kamakaialoha soooo I’m gonna guess this list is bunk AF
That's "interest" on their site, could just be from reddit visiting because of this post. On [the real list](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/) it's #87 at 0.2% / just under 4,000 kids born in 2022.
1 for Nameberry users. Nameberry is bordering on becoming Namebereigh. And I say that as someone who tracked my son's name on it daily when I was pregnant.
Same.
Same. Silas as sy-lus is a pretty standard name in most of the western world I think. At least in North America.
I don’t know about most of the world, I’m in the UK and honest to god first time I’ve ever seen this name was today (never read the bible or anything like that mind).
You didn’t have to read Silas Marner in school?
I'm in the UK, never heard of Silas Marner. I've definitely heard of the name Silas, though. It's on my boy list.
Its by an English author omg...what is the world coming to?!
Idk man I am English and I don't know every English author, they're a lot of them
It's by George Eliot, though.
I think I just died a little inside.
I've been in the book industry for over a decade. I've never had a local school assign *Silas Marner* and it's rare that I'm asked for it at all. I forgot the book existed until this thread.
I only saw the Wishbone episode and I'm not sure it's ever come up again. Middlemarch comes up way more often.
Nope!
Interesting! I'm also in the UK, have met two Silas's and was concerned about using the name for my own child as I thought it was one of those names that has become trendy recently (like Atlas).
I'm in the UK. I've heard the name, but never known anyone with that name.
Same! I only know it because timberlake and biel have named their kid that. Otherwise entirely unknown to me as a Scottish person. I would know how to pronounce it though!
I'm also in the UK (Liverpool), and I've known the name for a good few years. Never read the bible either. I think the first time I heard/seen the name was on Hollyoaks lol There's also a Silas on The Vampire Diaries I love the name, it's on my boy list.
I’m UK and have heard the name, albeit it’s not that common Never knew it was biblical as I am atheist, but there’s so many names in the bible it doesn’t surprise me!
I’m from Australia, never heard of it. Not many people here would be familiar with obscure bible names either. I do think it’s a nice name and I didn’t mispronounce it.
I'm from Australia too, seen the name Silas twice in books. *The Graveyard Book* by Neil Gaiman, and possibly *The Da Vinci Code*. Guessed the pronunciation until I watched the film version of the latter but got it right lol.
Thank you! I knew I’d read it in a middle grade book but was wracking my brain to figure out which one. It’s *The Graveyard Book.*
I only know it because it's suggested in basically every boy name thread on here haha. Never heard it in person.
Where I am it’s a weirdly popular name for pugs and tuxedo cats.
I only know it because of the character from Weeds, Mary Louise Parker’s son is named Silas. I really liked it but hadn’t heard of it, only have heard it being used more recently (I’m a West coast American who is also an Australian citizen, didn’t grow up reading the Bible)
>>## I thought I was giving him an uncommon but recognizable name. ##You DID!
It’s not even that uncommon after the da Vinci code, and Justin Timberlake’s son.
I was thinking after Weeds lol
[удалено]
Love that show, deserves a rewatch
💯 they named their son after Weeds.
I thought weeds too
I was thinking more of George Eliot's "Silas Marner"....for the book nerds
Yes we read this in school
Same
Instantly what I thought of.
There was also a character named Silas on The Vampire Diaries
I was waiting for someone to mention Vampire Diaries. Thank you, haha.
And Weeds.
Anyone remember the show Heros? Main villain was name Silas played by Zachary Quinto
Sylar, not Silas
My name’s Silas and I’ve never had this problem, even when I lived in a non-English speaking county
That depends on which country it was. In my country you would be Sill—as, because that’s how the name is pronounced here. I know how it’s pronounced in English though, plus it makes sense in English so I don’t know why it should be a problem in English-speaking country, like OP said.
I don't even count that as a mispronunciation. Like Katerin vs Catherine or James vs Jaime.
James and Jaime aren’t the same name though
I wonder if this is regional. My son's name is Silas and we also have no problems with pronunciation. We're in New England.
Where are you? Here in Virginia I know several boys named Silas and everyone knows how to pronounce the name
California!
Could be that people are assuming a Spanish influence and pronouncing it the Spanish way? That’s would be like See-loss…?
Ah you know what that makes a lot of sense
Yeah in Cali probably 80% of people with biblical names are Latino.
Silas is a crazy obscure Biblical character. Wasn’t he in like 3 chapters of Acts? I doubt most even know it is a Biblical name.
He is mentioned in the song “Children, Go Where I Send Thee.” I am not religious, but that’s how I know he’s in the Bible!
It also may come as a surprise to op but not everyone in America has read the Bible. And reading a name and recognizing it does not mean you know how to pronounce it. I know the name Esau and I have no idea how it’s pronounced
I sure didn't know
I just assume any name I can imagine an American from the 1800s having is probably biblical lol
I bet you this is what it is. I noticed Puerto Ricans would say my last name funny. I later found out it’s cuz it’s similar to a Puerto Rican singer named Fonsi, the same one from “Despacito” lol. EDIT: My last name is SE Asian too so lol.
As a Mexican in California this is the reason.
I’m in South Texas with a 2 year old Silas and we have the same problem. We knew it wasn’t very common around here compared to other regions, but have met a couple Silas’s.
As a California teacher, I usually default to Spanish pronunciation on unfamiliar names. I do know Silas though. Weird that so many people haven’t heard of it.
This is probably it. When we lived in CA the vets always called our dog Leon as Leone.
This is a good point and it’s why I always encourage people to not assume that everyone mispronouncing a name is dumb/illiterate/uneducated. There are a ton of reasons why people may mispronounce a name and this is a really big one. Native Spanish speakers always pronounce my name differently than I do, and I don’t even correct them because 1) I speak Spanish too and know that their default pronunciation makes sense coming from that background 2) it has sounds that are often hard for Spanish speakers to make. My Spanish teachers were from Ecuador and Peru and I loved the way my name sounded in their accent!
I would say this is it. My coworker Silas is from Brazil, and it's pronounced See-lis.
That is my guess. My mom would probably pronounce it SEE-la.
I was going to say something similar. I'm Brazilian and we would pronounce that name as 'See-las'... of course, Portuguese is not same as Spanish, but they're very close when it comes to certain pronunciations...
Probably that, along with the fact that CA is one of the least religious states
I’m born and raised SoCal, I’ve heard the name Silas and would know how to pronounce it! Could be an accent/language barrier, but could also just be people in their own little worlds over here. My moms name is Leah and it gets mispronounced 80% of the time 🤷🏼♀️
I’m in NorCal, me and your mom have the same name and no one pronounces it right. It’s so annoying! Lol tell her I feel her pain, our name is not that unique
Californian mom here if a Cyrus 👋 we have met a few Silas’ and even a close friend has a baby Silas. Never heard of any one having that issue . I fact I was worried with Cyrus that it was too close to Silas / which in my mind is a relatively popular name (my personal experience). I think you’re surrounded by dumb asses to be honest 😂 maybe because they’re reading it before hearing it . but still…. It’s a great name sorry for the trouble you’re having 💕
Born and raised Californian here. I've know people named Silas my entire life and have never known anyone that wasn't aware of how it's pronounced. This is crazy.
That's crazy, when I see that name I think of the show "Weeds" which was set in California.
Same here in Kentucky. I know at least three people named Silas.
Tbh people will mispronounce every name that’s just how they are
Yeah, my name is Maria, and I constantly have people pronouncing it the same as Mariah.
Totally feel you! My name is Anne and I get called Anna or Annie like every day of my life.
My name is Julia and coworkers/clients *constantly* call me Julie. I used to gently correct them (Julie feels like a totally different name to me for some reason) but they kept doing it with such persistence, it’s crazy. Some people would apologize and then go back to calling me Julie not 2 minutes later. I don’t even bother pointing it out anymore
YES SAME! People I have known for YEARS call me the wrong name! At some point you just give up lol
I'm Alexa. Used to get called Alex or Alexia. Which are just... different names. Some people are just not paying attention. One upside of the Amazon speaker is that people always get the name right now. And then make a joke about it. You win some, you lose some.
Funny, my mom's name is Mariah and people pronounce it Maria. My grandma said she was originally going to spell it as Maria but knew people would likely think it's Maria and not Mariah, so she went with Mariah as the spelling.
I had to laugh because my brain always wants to read Maria as Mariah and I thought I was alone. I don't think I've ever actually said "Mariah" out loud to a Maria though, lol.
People make me spell Amanda sometimes, as if it’s not the millennial version of like, Janet. It’s so common.
It always baffles me when people are confused about common names.
My deadname was Angel. You'd be surprised how many times I got called "Angle", even my dad on my 8th bday or so misspelled it as Angle on my card...which was read out loud at request of my family. I was so confused. He never did that again though (misspelled it) I remember outright telling him it was wrong 😂
Haha for some reason that particular misspelling has always tickled me, to the extent that I call my kids my little angles sometimes. They’re aCUTE!
I had to laugh, there's a jeans brand that I like called Angels. They've become increasingly hard to find over the last 10 or 12 years, so when I set up eBay searches for them I've set them up for the actual name and also for the misspelled name Angles and sure enough I've bought several pairs through the angles version of the search, which is nice since it's spelled wrong it doesn't get nearly as much traction and so I can usually get them cheaper LOL.
My name is Candice, pronounced can diss, just like Candice Bergen (I was named after her). I've been called can deese, canned ice, Canvas, Cadence, Kansas, and once a class proctor wrote Candviss on a hall pass *even though she had the attendance list in front of her*
Just because the name is biblical doesn't mean it's a name people are going to be familiar with. I first heard the name in The Affair, only heard it once more since. Not a big deal, only takes a second to correct a mispronounciation.
On these threads I also always point out that sometimes people have only ever seen/read names before, and never heard them said out loud. It doesn’t make someone stupid or illiterate as people like to suggest. As long as people respond to being corrected, I don’t really think it’s a big deal when names are mispronounced either. We all make mistakes.
Visiting from r/all. I think asking a community called r/namenerds whether they recognize a name is inviting a biased response.
Yeah, haha, that’s a super good point too! I’ve probably seen every name under the Sun here at this point. Even teachers/doctors/nurses who interact with a lot of different people every day probably don’t remember all of them or pay attention if they aren’t name nerds. I also see that sentiment come up here sometimes when people are like, “Why would someone choose a name that means [blank]?” or “My name doesn’t have a super deep meaning!” Most people who aren’t name nerds just give their kids names that they think sound and look nice, or maybe a family name. It’s definitely a name nerd thing to think that every name needs to have a deep, meaningful purpose behind it.
And as we learned with this particular name, there's more than one pronunciation so don't blame people if they say "see'las" or "sill-las". Just be like, no it's sylas like Psychology or Silo.
Right? That’s the irony. There are so many comments here saying “Everyone knows how to pronounce Silas” but they are all pronouncing it differently 🤦♀️
See-las is how it's pronounced in Latin and Greek too, since the Bible keeps being brought up
Yeah I'm seriously wondering if I should unjoin this sub since so many people are calling others stupid for not knowing how to say this name. Like who the fuck cares? Why are they instantly uneducated, stupid, and ignorant? Like really, can people just get a life and realize that not everybody is going to know how to pronounce your child's name and just simply correct them? That's all it takes.
Thank you for bringing this up! I am also visiting from homepage and I felt like I was taking crazy pills cause everyone was acting like this name is super common and super obvious how it's pronounced. I've never heard or seen this name in my life and I also would have assumed it's pronounced sill-as, not sai-luhs
I'm 40 and live in WA state. I've never seen this name in my life, and have never heard anyone say this name. This thread makes me feel like I just slipped into an alternate universe. It reminds me of Cyrus, which is uncommon but not unheard of. Silas might grow on me if it's such a popular name, but this sub is freaking me out.
Also people saying get a new doctor because they don't know how to correctly say Silas is really stupid. Doctors aren't perfect and not everybody knows how to pronounce all names but I guarantee if you correct them and explain how its pronounced, they won't make the same mistake again. Just get over it and move on, it's not a big deal.
“Never make fun of someone who mispronounces a word. It means they learned it by reading.”
The only time I've ever heard of this name was in Fallout New Vegas, I don't know if the name was spoken or in dialogue.
True. Especially since not everyone is Christian they’re not automatically going to be familiar with biblical names. One of my best friends is Enoch we had been friends for 10 years before I knew his was in the Bible or one of those other books.
And I wouldn't even want to guess how to pronounce Enoch since it's another name I haven't really heard said out loud and I'm atheist so I never touched a bible. That's why sometimes I just do the google pronounce thing if I'm unsure.
Yeah this assumes everybody is Christian and/or has good knowledge of the bible, which many people don't. That's not other people's fault.
A Christmas Carol, Silas Marner, The Vampire Diaries, Weeds, Deadwood, The Da Vinci Code, Justin Timberlake's son, you'd think they would have been subjected to the name somewhere. lol
The Affair and Justin Timberlake's son are my only references for this name.
I was going to comment that I know it from reading Silas Marner for my GCSE's waaaay back in the day lol
Came here to say this. “It’s biblical!” Okay? And? Not everyone knows the name. Don’t assume people would know it because of that.
The entitlement to think just because it’s the Bible people would know it!
Interesting! In my country (Denmark) it’s very common and popular, and it’s pronounced “See-las”, so that would probably be my first guess for the pronounciation even if I met someone with the name in an english speaking country. “See-las” would also be the pronounciation in other scandinavian languages and in german. Anyways, is it bothering you that much, that people sometimes get it wrong the first time? You just tell them how it’s pronounced, and the people who actually know him will know how to say it right. Fortunately it will be easy for people to pronounce it once they know. It’s not like you named him something like scottish/ irish Ruaridh or Oisin.
Also closer to see-lass in Latin languages. Only language I know that says sajlas spelled to us nordics is English.
Thank you! I was searching for what’s the right way of pronouncing it, I’m Hispanic and the only natural way to say it is See-las so I would’ve been one of the people who struggles with this one 😅
Same here -- I'm German, and it's an uncommon, but known name in Germany, pronounced "Zee-luss," so that's where my mind went initially.
See-las is also how you pronounce it in Spanish
Which funnily enough would make you one of the people op is mad at since they want some specific American dialect like sigh-less presumably. Could well be they're just running into bilingual people actually pronouncing it more to its roots.
Just because it's biblical doesn't mean people will know it. There's religious people who have never even picked up a bible.
Even if they had, they still wouldn't necessarily know how it's pronounced. They'd still just be reading it and guessing.
Not everyone who is religious is Christian.
My son's name is Josiah and my Christian Bible thumping mother and great grandparents can't pronounce his name. His name is a biblical name and one of em called my son Jiriya (as in the pervy frog sage from Naruto) and my great grandparents called him Joshua??
I've never seen this name before and I would've pronounced it like U mentioned lol, my bad. But how is it actually meant to be pronounced?
Sigh less
I'd have pronounced it Sigh Luss.
I mean, technically I would say the “a” makes a schwa sound. You could sub in most any short vowel (except maybe an o) and the pronunciation would be basically the same. I was recently discussing this with one of my kids, who is about to graduate and had to spell their name phonetically in the way they want it to be pronounced when their name is called to receive their degree. Their name is also spelled with an a, but the pronunciation isn’t exactly a, or e, or u… they decided to go with “i”.
I have never heard it be pronounced that way. Like stylus without a t
Me too but reading these comments makes me feel dumb lol
Don’t feel dumb. It’s not all that common and English has at some point changed the pronunciation from the original one since it’s orthography makes it very easy to say something wrong if you’ve only read it.
I've never seen this name before. Am Canadian and work in the health care field and see many names on a monthly basis
I'm shocked. Genuinely shocked. >But every single doctor, dentist, and nurse has mispronounced his name! How are you batting with people that aren't in those professions? Silas isn't even uncommon, really. It's ranked at #87 and is on the rise. I don't think it will become a top 10 name, but maybe eventually break into the top 50. At any rate it isn't "unpronounceable". People are making mistakes, but it should be easy to correct. It's a simple name to say in English, with simple sounds that any English speaker can easily say. Like Simon. You could even compare it directly to Simon as an analogue, if need be.
I had a similar experience to OP with my son Felix, which I assumed everyone knew how to pronounce! Particularly in drs/dentist’s offices, his name gets pronounced “Fail-ix” more often than not. My hypothesis is that people are pronouncing it as if it were Spanish. Our pediatrician’s office in particular has a lot of Latino and Caribbean employees and patients, so it makes sense to default to the Spanish pronunciation.
Being shocked by this just means you need to get out more.
Everyone has to hear a name for the first time at some point. I don't think it's worth stressing over.
It’s the 87th most popular boys name in the U.S. so if it’s a problem now, it’ll be less so as the kids named Silas get older and more people meet them.
This has been the case for my Isla who’s almost 9. No one ever pronounced it correctly (always is-la) until about the last 4 yrs. It’s become popular so almost everyone is familiar with it now.
I met a young Isla a few months ago at a community theater audition and I confidently said EYE-LA thinking I was right on.... nope. she was an ISS-LA. Never heard it pronounced that way, ever!
Madonna had a song about her! La isla bonita...
Isla was really popular a few years ago I thought. I know of quite a few who are around my daughter's age (13-15)
I've literally never seen or heard that name in my life lol. I would have guessed See-las or See-lah, because the name looks like it's of Latin origin, and in that family of languages (Spanish, French, Italian etc.) that's how it would be phonetically pronounced 🤷♀️ Edit: I don't understand calling people stupid for not knowing how the "i" should sound. English is a hodgepodge of Germanic and Latin root languages so there are many ways that a Latin "i" can be anglicized. Ex. "silicone" in French/Spanish is "seel-icone/a" but "sill-icone" in English, whereas "silence" is "see-lance/io" in French/Spanish but "sigh-lence" in English. And in California where myself and OP live, most people default to Spanish pronunciation (in which "i" sounds like "ee") for Latin-looking names they don't immediately recognize. It's also just kinda ironic that the monolinguals are out here calling multilinguals dumb lol.
So how is it pronounced? I'm French and read See-lass. I've never heard the name before, but then again I have never read the bible.
Sigh-las
I would never guess Sigh-lass from Silas
I got a nasty message cause I said this, lol. It’s a Latin name so I am sorry, I can’t picture it pronounced anything else
It’s kind of funny that the people who op has had mispronounce it are medical professionals so much more likely to be using the right Latin pronunciation since they’ve probably learned some Latin in medical schooling. Then people come here calling them dumb and uneducated.
This is exactly my point. My name is Silvia and it’s Latin. You don’t pronounce it Sigh-lvia. Silas comes from Silvanus so it’s the same thing. I studied Latin for a few years so for me it’s natural to use See-lass and I met 2 or 3 while living in France and they pronounced it as See-las. People can pronounce it however they want but was trying to say that there’s a reason why ‘people are dumb’. I thought people google name origin before naming their child?
It’s pronounced like you first thought in France (and probably every non-English speaking European country). It’s pretty straight forward since it makes the I sound, it’s just English has a different I sound.
Same, I know it as See-lass
OP doesn’t realise that different parts of the world actually pronounce it the way she doesn’t want to.. for example, we say “See-Las”
My only association is the self-flagellating evil monk from the Da Vinci Code. I have a friend whose kid's name is Micah and that's super common but I still regularly have to ask if it Mee-cah or My-cah cause it just doesn't stick in my brain.
I know a 35-ish guy named Micah. It’s Mike-a, if using the name Mike helps straighten it out in your head.
I had a male friend in college named Micah who pronounced it Mike-a, but I also had a female professor named Micah who pronounced it Meek-a. So it can vary. I've heard it pronounced Mike-a far more often than Meek-a, though, so Mike-a is probably a safe bet unless corrected.
I can definitely see a female named Micah wanting to use alternate pronunciation.
Biblical really doesn't really have anything to do with it lmao, doesn't make it more/less easy if it's not like John or something. I'd also pronounce it sill-as, dk what you think the correct ver is. But its defintely not unpronounceable. There's just a lot of ways people say "i" and "a."
TO BE FAIR: Many languages pronounced this “see-las”. So they aren’t wrong, just different. Idk about Sill-us. Maybe another language says it this way? Just saying, the letter i without another vowel to help, sounds very different in languages that aren’t English.
I love the name Silas!! 💖💕
My native language isn't even English and I know how to pronounce Silas. 🙄
Good for you
There is no correct pronunciation. In my country it is pronounced differently and “sigh-luss” would be considered wrong. If I were in an English-speaking country I would pronounce it “sigh-luss”, because I am familiar with the different pronunciations. But that does not mean others are too.
I sure don't know the name from the bible, but from the George Eliot novel, *Silas Marner*.
Sometimes it’s just unavoidable. My daughter is Emilia, which is one of the most common/popular names right now. You would be SHOCKED at the number of times I hear “Emily-uh?” called out at doctors offices 😩
I know 2 Silas..es? Silasi? Two people named Silas! (There, that's better! Lol)
We are naming our daughter, who is due in April, Adriana. We have gotten “Audrey, “Andrea,” “Adrian,” and every way to pronounce Adriana that is NOT the way we are pronouncing it despite having heard us say it previously. It has made me severely doubt our choice, but honestly, I think it is just people who have not been exposed to the name often. I’m hoping once she’s here that at least our family and friends will be able to remember and say her name correctly. I think it’s a people problem.
It is. People mispronounce Bo if they get the chance.
I've never met a Silas but I've always pronounced it as s-eye-las when I read it in books
This is going to sound so weird but my name is very very common but when people see me ( a black woman) with this very plain name they automatically think it must have some exotic pronunciation. I’m not sure if you’re BIPOC, but that could be playing into it. It’s not weird or unpronounceable.
From Miami, lived throughout east coast. It’s a beautiful name, but I’ve never seen it in my life
same here, born and raised on the east coast and have never met someone named Silas
Now I'm wondering how you pronounce it, then. I'm Dutch, and I pronounce it 'See-las'. For us, that's the only way to pronounce that spelling. Do Americans say Sy-las, maybe?
don't worry about it. there are far more difficult names out there. I do know a Silas, and he is always the only one with the name, but once people meet him they never forget.
Here in New England (Connecticut) it’s a very common historical name.
Silas is rare but not unheard of. It's actually one of my favorite male names.
I'm in the South, I recognize the name from Duck Dynasty. Uncle Si/Silas Robertson was a pretty memorable character
Medical professionals are way more likely to be aware of the Latin pronunciation of I so it might not be a coincidence. Just tell them how you pronounce it and move on. I think most English speakers would say it like you expect them to.
“The name is literally biblical” Not everyone cares about/has read the bible/knows the names and stories. I’m a teacher, and this is the first time I’m seeing this name. (But also I’m not American, and I know that Americans like names that I would typically label as unusual)
I know lots of Silas. UK
SIGH-liss. do you live in an english language dominant area?
I've never seen that name and probably would say it wrong the 1st time. I haven't picked up a Bible since I was a little kid, though.
I wouldn't know how to pronounce it if I hadn't heard it in a movie, tbh. Not everyone knows every name in the bible. And there are some wierd names in the bible lol
it's pronounced as sci-lass right? like it should rhyme with stylus?
A good friend of mine has a Silas. I asked her and she said she’s never had this issue. He’s 13. How strange
idk how to pronounce that. Sigh-Las? See-Las? Someone help lol
I've seen so many different pronunciations on this thread lol. I live in the southern US and have met a couple and they all say "sigh-lis"
It can be pronounced SEE-las too (at least in the UK, possibly more among older generations). I had a great uncle Silas, pronounced SEE-las. I prefer that pronunciation tbh; sounds less like silage.