Sylas
Meaning
phonetic respelling of Silas, of the forest
The story
Sylas is Silas respelled with a y, the forest name of the old Latin reading worn with a modern signature, and the couple files in order: Silas, the anchor, about 74,900 with its own story here; Sylas at about 9,000, nearly all boys. The record is young and steep: about 140 in the 1990s, 1,000 in the 2000s, cresting at 4,000 in the 2010s, with 3,700 so far this decade, closing on the full 2010s with years to run. The y does what the era's deliberate letters do, marks the choice as chosen, and everything underneath survives the respelling intact: the woods, the old missionary companion of the epistles, and the quiet gravity that made the anchor a revival favorite. Same forest, different signpost.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Sylas peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
281 people · the #19,968 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 28
Among people named Sylas living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Sylas
Most people given the name Sylas in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Sylas deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Sylas truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Sylas fits with your family’s names and surname.
Does Sylas fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Sylas to your family’s tree →