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".
Michel (name) Michel (name) Michel is originally a French name. It can be both a given name and a surname ultimately of Hebrew origin, derived from , meaning "Who Is Like God?" The name is particularly common in French (from where the standard English pronunciation is derived), German (already in Middle High German), Dutch, and Afrikaans. In these instances "Michel" is equivalent to the English personal name "Michael". "Mitxel" which is also an equivalent of "Michael". When of Czech, Slovak or Polish origin it is a variant of the personal name "Michal". When of Greek origin, the surname "Michel" is a shortened