Silas (name) Silas (name) Silas is a common given name and a lesser-known surname. It is a cognate of Silvanus. Silas as a name today comes from the early Christian disciple Silas. He is consistently called "Silas" in Acts, but the Latin Silvanus, which means "of the forest," is always used by Paul and in the First Epistle of Peter; it is likely that "Silvanus" is the Romanized version of the original "Silas," or that "Silas" is the Greek nickname for "Silvanus." It has been suggested that Silas is the Greek version of the Aramaic "Seila," a version of the Hebrew "Saul".
Raven (given name) "Kestrel", and "Teal". Names derived from vocabulary words, such as the mentioned bird names, increased in popularity as feminine names in the English-speaking world during the 20th century. The feminine given name "Ravenna" is thought to be derived from the name of the northern Italian city Ravenna, however, in some cases "Ravenna" may also represent a more elaborately-feminine form of "Raven". "Raven" is also a surname in the English language. In some cases the surname is derived from the Old Norse and Old English personal names already mentioned. The surname also originates from a nickname meaning "raven", or a thieving