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".
Hope (given name) Hope (given name) Hope is a feminine name derived from the Middle English "hope," ultimately from the Old English word "hopian" referring to a positive expectation or to the theological virtue of hope. It was used as a virtue name by the Puritans. Puritans also used Hope as an element in phrase names, such as Hope-for, Hopeful, and Hope-still. The name is also the usual English translation of the Greek name of Saint Hope, an early Christian child martyr who was tortured to death along with her sisters Faith and Charity. She is known as Elpis in Greek and Spes