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NameAlmanac

Silas

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Silas was given to 4,639 boys in 2025, #71 among boys’ names; 75,649 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 66,900 Americans named Silas and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 4 and 15.

Babies named Silas each year, first recorded in 1880
Silas, 1880-2025; highest in 2025.1k2k3k4k5k188019001920194019601980200020252025 peak: 4,646
Silas, 1880-2025; highest in 2025.1k2k3k4k5k188019001920194019601980200020252025 peak: 4,646
Silas, 1880-2025; highest in 2025.1k2k3k4k5k18801905193019551980200520252025 peak: 4,646
Silas, 1880-2025; highest in 2025.1k2k3k4k5k18801930198020252025 peak: 4,646

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Silas or SylasNames of the 2020sNames in Texas

Births of Silas by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Silas mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Silas is “a male given name from Aramaic of Biblical origin.” Its etymology gives the sense “Saul” (שָׁאוּל).

From Latin Sīlās, from Ancient Greek Σίλας (Sílas), from Aramaic שְׁאִילָא (šəʾīlā), cognate of Hebrew שָׁאוּל (šāʾūl, “Saul”). Doublet of Saul.

/ˈsaɪ.ləs/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Silas (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Silas?

#71 among boys’ names, 2025

Silas rose from #128 in 2015 to #71 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 1.7 to 2.7 per 1,000.

4,646 babies in 2025, the peak

Silas peaked in 2025, when 4,646 babies were given it (4,639 boys, #71 among boys’ names). In 2024 it went to 4,127 boys.

Silas by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20254,639#712.7
20244,127#812.4
20234,105#802.4
20224,032#872.3
20213,916#912.2
20203,645#1002.1
20193,566#1052.0
20183,518#1101.9
20173,340#1201.8
20163,417#1191.8
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20153,191#1281.7
20142,937#1371.5
20133,413#1161.8
20122,497#1601.3
20112,118#1831.1
20101,632#2190.85
20091,377#2520.69
20081,074#3100.53
2007940#3440.45
2006800#3720.39
2005660#4120.33
2004611#4300.31
2003562#4480.28
2002580#4310.30
2001376#5580.19
2000328#6020.17
1999290#6240.15
1998251#6810.13
1997230#6930.12
1996207#7400.11
1995204#7530.11
1994153#8660.08
1993155#8500.08
1992165#8170.08
1991133#9100.07
1990119#9530.06
1989118#9360.06
1988116#8880.06
1987121#8500.06
1986115#8460.06
1985116#8380.06
1984103#8690.06
1983123#7880.07
1982114#8330.06
1981133#7590.07
1980116#8180.07
1979112#8240.07
1978113#8010.07
197793#8800.06
1976100#8370.06
1975111#7910.07
197483#8900.05
197394#8230.06
197274#9390.05
197173#9560.04
197069#9770.04
196966#9500.04
196862#9280.04
196752#1,0150.03
196672#8590.04
196590#7840.05
196470#9120.04
196397#7770.05
196278#8590.04
196187#8210.04
196079#8600.04
195996#7850.04
1958104#7300.05
1957116#7040.05
1956101#7330.05
195590#7690.04
1954115#6720.06
1953113#6760.06
1952101#6970.05
195194#7170.05
1950120#6300.07
1949139#5720.08
1948113#6380.06
1947132#5940.07
1946142#5390.09
1945112#5760.08
1944118#5630.09
1943137#5400.10
1942145#5080.10
1941118#5510.10
1940120#5380.10
1939140#4870.13
1938146#4770.13
1937109#5590.10
1936145#4680.14
1935143#4740.14
1934142#4800.14
1933143#4690.14
1932154#4640.15
1931169#4370.16
1930191#4290.17
1929177#4490.16
1928167#4740.15
1927183#4520.16
1926211#4170.19
1925219#4060.20
1924213#4200.19
1923206#4230.19
1922213#4130.20
1921224#4050.20
1920218#3980.20
1919202#4110.21
1918229#3940.23
1917205#3940.22
1916190#4040.21
1915197#3800.23
1914173#3590.26
1913126#3760.25
1912108#3710.25
191159#3620.26
191064#3100.33
190962#2870.38
190848#3240.31
190745#3210.31
190653#2720.40
190543#3100.33
190451#2690.40
190347#2720.39
190255#2510.45
190137#2890.35
190068#2490.45
189955#2260.52
189848#2610.39
189753#2410.47
189663#2280.53
189568#2100.58
189456#2300.48
189357#2250.51
189289#1790.73
189158#2070.57
189084#1680.76
188967#1960.61
188871#2080.59
188764#1920.63
188677#1790.70
188573#1800.68
188483#1700.73
188377#1620.74
188292#1490.81
188173#1660.72
188098#1400.89

Download Silas’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Silas a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Silas has been given almost only to boys: 184 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Silas: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Silas, and how old are they?

66,900 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 88% of the 75,649 Americans ever recorded as Silas. The median Silas alive today is 9 years old; half are between 4 and 15.

The 2020 Census counted 40,869 people named Silas (193 women and girls, 40,676 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 44,162 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.

Alive today, by age

100-1094
90-99103
80-89423
70-79668
60-69679
50-59693
40-491,060
30-391,430
20-294,600
10-1922,400
0-9 (median)34,600

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-1945456
Baby Boomers1946-19641,280
Generation X1965-19801,230
Millennials1981-19962,090
Generation Z1997-201214,200
Generation Alpha2013-202547,700

An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.

Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).

Where are babies named Silas born?

The states with the most babies named Silas are Texas, California and Florida, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateBirths 2025Rank, boysvs. national
Texas423#930.7×
California293#1360.6×
Florida228#980.8×
Ohio224#431.1×
North Carolina220#431.4×
Pennsylvania199#570.9×
Georgia166#601.0×
Tennessee156#381.5×
Michigan154#521.0×
New York142#1350.5×

Where Silas is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Silas is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 1.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

Kentucky1.81×
Oregon1.61×
Vermont1.52×
Arkansas1.51×
Maine1.50×
Tennessee1.48×
South Carolina1.45×
Alaska1.45×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Silas with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.

Names spelled alike

Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 87,186 babies since 1880, Silas is the most given (87% of them). In 2025 it was given to 4,646 of their 5,530 babies (84%), again the most given.

Silas and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Silas75,6494,6462025
Sylas8,9667322025
Sylus1,244662013
Sylis1,043632013
Silus230102013
Sylias54132025

Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.

Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Silas

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

NameRecorded1880-2025
Oliver270,680
Mathias15,544
Lawson19,138
Hezekiah11,228
Cassius9,766
Prince24,151

Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

More about Silas and names like it

  1. Compare Silas and SylasBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 2020sSilas peaked in 2025.
  3. Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Silas since 1910.
  4. The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Silas.
  5. The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Silas alive today were born 2013-2025.
  6. Names starting with SMost given first.

Compare Silas with another name