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".
Augustine (given name) Augustine (given name) Augustine is a masculine given name derived from the Latin word "augere", meaning "to increase." The Latin form "Augustinus" is developed from "Augustus" which means "venerable" and was a title given to Roman emperors. Saint Augustine of Hippo was a significant early Christian theologian and Doctor of the Church and his prominence in Catholic and Protestant theology contributed to the given name's spread across Europe and into further continents through evangelism. In both the vulgar of French and English used in the High Middle Ages, the name was frequently shortened to or pronounced as "Aoustin" or "Austin"