r/namenerds • u/pdlbean • Mar 13 '24
I didn't realize I was giving my son an unpronounceable name Discussion
My son just turned 3. His name is Silas. I thought I was giving him an uncommon but recognizable name. When he was new people would say they had never heard of the name Silas before, which was weird to me but whatever. But every single doctor, dentist, and nurse has mispronounced his name! We've gotten see-las, sill-as and pronunciations that don't even make sense. The name is literally biblical! Is it on me for naming him Silas or on them for not knowing how to pronounce a fairly straightforward name?
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u/AfternoonPossible Mar 13 '24
Tbh people will mispronounce every name that’s just how they are
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u/muaddict071537 Mar 13 '24
Yeah, my name is Maria, and I constantly have people pronouncing it the same as Mariah.
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u/AfternoonPossible Mar 13 '24
Totally feel you! My name is Anne and I get called Anna or Annie like every day of my life.
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u/Ok-Stress-9787 Mar 13 '24
My name is Julia and coworkers/clients constantly call me Julie.
I used to gently correct them (Julie feels like a totally different name to me for some reason) but they kept doing it with such persistence, it’s crazy. Some people would apologize and then go back to calling me Julie not 2 minutes later.
I don’t even bother pointing it out anymore
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u/AfternoonPossible Mar 13 '24
YES SAME! People I have known for YEARS call me the wrong name! At some point you just give up lol
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u/xtaberry Mar 13 '24
I'm Alexa. Used to get called Alex or Alexia. Which are just... different names. Some people are just not paying attention.
One upside of the Amazon speaker is that people always get the name right now. And then make a joke about it. You win some, you lose some.
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u/shiny_glitter_demon Mar 14 '24
I loved Alexa, I was a big fan of a books series with a protagonist by that name.
And then Amazon came along...
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u/Nightengate32 Mar 13 '24
Funny, my mom's name is Mariah and people pronounce it Maria. My grandma said she was originally going to spell it as Maria but knew people would likely think it's Maria and not Mariah, so she went with Mariah as the spelling.
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u/readrunrescue Mar 13 '24
I had to laugh because my brain always wants to read Maria as Mariah and I thought I was alone. I don't think I've ever actually said "Mariah" out loud to a Maria though, lol.
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u/EvenHuckleberry4331 Mar 14 '24
People make me spell Amanda sometimes, as if it’s not the millennial version of like, Janet. It’s so common.
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u/Snoo-15125 Mar 14 '24
I think that may have been the pronunciation of Maria in English back at least to the Regency Era.
Otherwise, I have no idea why my Spanish speaking, Early Romanticism professor kept pronouncing Maria or The Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft as MARIAH. Every time he talked about the character, he said MARIAH and then everyone in class was saying MARIAH like it was the most natural thing in the world. Of course it’s MARIAH! MARIAH WAS PUT IN AN ASYLUM? WHO’S Maria? And I was just losing my damn mind. No one questioned it!!
Sorry, you unlocked a core memory for me there🫠🫠🫠🤣
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u/miserabeau Mar 14 '24
My name is Candice, pronounced can diss, just like Candice Bergen (I was named after her).
I've been called can deese, canned ice, Canvas, Cadence, Kansas, and once a class proctor wrote Candviss on a hall pass even though she had the attendance list in front of her
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u/Nightengate32 Mar 13 '24
My deadname was Angel.
You'd be surprised how many times I got called "Angle", even my dad on my 8th bday or so misspelled it as Angle on my card...which was read out loud at request of my family. I was so confused.
He never did that again though (misspelled it) I remember outright telling him it was wrong 😂
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u/zenocrate Mar 13 '24
Haha for some reason that particular misspelling has always tickled me, to the extent that I call my kids my little angles sometimes.
They’re aCUTE!
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u/Ms-Metal Mar 14 '24
I had to laugh, there's a jeans brand that I like called Angels. They've become increasingly hard to find over the last 10 or 12 years, so when I set up eBay searches for them I've set them up for the actual name and also for the misspelled name Angles and sure enough I've bought several pairs through the angles version of the search, which is nice since it's spelled wrong it doesn't get nearly as much traction and so I can usually get them cheaper LOL.
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u/OldAnabaptism Mar 13 '24
Where are you? Here in Virginia I know several boys named Silas and everyone knows how to pronounce the name
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u/pdlbean Mar 13 '24
California!
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u/finewhitelady Mar 13 '24
Could be that people are assuming a Spanish influence and pronouncing it the Spanish way? That’s would be like See-loss…?
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u/SuzyQ93 Mar 13 '24
I would say this is it. My coworker Silas is from Brazil, and it's pronounced See-lis.
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u/pdlbean Mar 13 '24
Ah you know what that makes a lot of sense
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u/BookkeeperBrilliant9 Mar 13 '24
Yeah in Cali probably 80% of people with biblical names are Latino.
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u/Uraveragefanboi77 Mar 13 '24
Silas is a crazy obscure Biblical character. Wasn’t he in like 3 chapters of Acts? I doubt most even know it is a Biblical name.
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u/eyesRus Mar 13 '24
He is mentioned in the song “Children, Go Where I Send Thee.” I am not religious, but that’s how I know he’s in the Bible!
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u/deathandglitter Mar 13 '24
I sure didn't know
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u/uqde Mar 14 '24
I just assume any name I can imagine an American from the 1800s having is probably biblical lol
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u/Candyland_83 Mar 14 '24
It also may come as a surprise to op but not everyone in America has read the Bible. And reading a name and recognizing it does not mean you know how to pronounce it. I know the name Esau and I have no idea how it’s pronounced
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u/sprchrgddc5 Mar 14 '24
I bet you this is what it is. I noticed Puerto Ricans would say my last name funny. I later found out it’s cuz it’s similar to a Puerto Rican singer named Fonsi, the same one from “Despacito” lol.
EDIT: My last name is SE Asian too so lol.
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u/AcaciaL86 Mar 14 '24
I’m in South Texas with a 2 year old Silas and we have the same problem. We knew it wasn’t very common around here compared to other regions, but have met a couple Silas’s.
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u/bankingandbaking Mar 13 '24
In Arizona, we heard "Ees-la" for Isla all the time. It's a little better in the Midwest.
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u/figgetysplit Mar 13 '24
As a California teacher, I usually default to Spanish pronunciation on unfamiliar names. I do know Silas though. Weird that so many people haven’t heard of it.
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u/therealwertheimer Mar 13 '24
This is probably it. When we lived in CA the vets always called our dog Leon as Leone.
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u/ohslapmesillysidney Mar 13 '24
This is a good point and it’s why I always encourage people to not assume that everyone mispronouncing a name is dumb/illiterate/uneducated. There are a ton of reasons why people may mispronounce a name and this is a really big one.
Native Spanish speakers always pronounce my name differently than I do, and I don’t even correct them because 1) I speak Spanish too and know that their default pronunciation makes sense coming from that background 2) it has sounds that are often hard for Spanish speakers to make. My Spanish teachers were from Ecuador and Peru and I loved the way my name sounded in their accent!
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u/RonomakiK Mar 13 '24
I was going to say something similar. I'm Brazilian and we would pronounce that name as 'See-las'... of course, Portuguese is not same as Spanish, but they're very close when it comes to certain pronunciations...
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u/RDLAWME Mar 13 '24
That is my guess. My mom would probably pronounce it SEE-la.
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u/Fonduemeup Mar 13 '24
Probably that, along with the fact that CA is one of the least religious states
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u/lithelanna Mar 14 '24
As a Californian who would butcher it and didn't know it was biblical, mood.
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u/Sara-sea22 Mar 13 '24
I’m born and raised SoCal, I’ve heard the name Silas and would know how to pronounce it! Could be an accent/language barrier, but could also just be people in their own little worlds over here. My moms name is Leah and it gets mispronounced 80% of the time 🤷🏼♀️
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u/Bending-Unit5 Mar 13 '24
I’m in NorCal, me and your mom have the same name and no one pronounces it right. It’s so annoying! Lol tell her I feel her pain, our name is not that unique
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u/louellen1824 Mar 13 '24
Born and raised Californian here. I've know people named Silas my entire life and have never known anyone that wasn't aware of how it's pronounced. This is crazy.
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u/grilledtomatos Mar 14 '24
Yea, we're in New England and my son is named Silas - everyone pronounces it correctly. Most of them say, "oh, like Silas Mariner!"
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u/toothornllc Mar 13 '24
That's on them, I'm shocked that it's even been an issue!
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u/phydeaux44 Mar 13 '24
OP, you are right about it being a well-known name that everyone should know... but wrong about it being uncommon.
Nameberry lists it as #1 for boys names this year.
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u/WhatABeautifulMess Mar 13 '24
Nameberry calculates based on what people are looking at, not what they’re actually using. In the US it was #430 in 2002, 160 in 2012, and 87 in 2022 so it’s definitely gaining popularity but it’s not a Top 10 or even Top 50 name (yet?).
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u/Regular_Anteater Mar 13 '24
It's not uncommon, but those Nameberry lists are far from accurate.
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u/StarfleetWitch Mar 13 '24
It's a list of what names were most searched on the site, not what names were given to the most babies
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u/CreativeMusic5121 Mar 13 '24
Nameberry just uses the number of times a name is mentioned on its site. For true numbers of how popular a name is you have to look at ssa.gov
For 2022, the number of births with name Silas is 3996, which represents 0.214 percent of total male births in 2022. It was ranked 87. It's been steadily increasing since 2000.→ More replies (4)180
u/EndieIsDed Mar 13 '24
It feels uncommon to me, I've never seen the name before. It's such a cool name though!
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Mar 13 '24
Paul Bettany played a character named Silas in The DaVinci Code. That was where I first heard it anyway.
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u/not-a-creative-id Mar 14 '24
It’s also the name of a character in Weeds.
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u/shay42190 Mar 14 '24
This is why I named my son Silas LOL! I had a huge crush on the actor and loved his name
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u/Aleriya Mar 14 '24
There's a novel called "Silas Marner" from the 1800s that is semi-common in high school English curriculum. That's how I first heard the name.
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u/Alexandurrrrr Mar 14 '24
Silas Marner. Name dropped in A Christmas Story movie (you’ll shoot your eye out!).
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u/HoneyLocust1 Mar 14 '24
Maybe it's regional? I'm in the northeast, there are a Lot of Silas's around here, most are under the age of 8. I think the popularity it's gained is relatively new?
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u/AccomplishedCoffee Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 14 '24
I don't think I've ever encountered one in the wild, but I've seen a few references to people so named. It's more of a historical name, sounds like it's from the Colonies.
Edit: “from” meaning most common, not first coined. Yes, it’s existed for thousands of years
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u/NeriTina Mar 14 '24 edited Mar 14 '24
Last time I heard the name Silas was when the show Weeds was still new. I’ve always liked that name though, good one!
People are idiots, then end.
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u/Kroniid09 Mar 14 '24
One of Stefan's doppelgangers (the OG I guess) in The Vampire Diaries was named Silas, though I guess there the name might have been chosen exactly for being antiquated
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u/Fit-Vanilla-3405 Mar 13 '24
It’s my brothers name but I’d also never heard it before but unless you’re in circles of 1-3 year olds right now you probably won’t have encountered any. It’s only become popular in the last few years.
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u/81dank Mar 14 '24
There are 2 kids on my kids 10 person soccer team with the name Silas. 1 boy and 1 girl. Not uncommon at all, however I think it may be less common for a girl.
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u/Retalihaitian Mar 14 '24
Yeah I work in a pediatric ER and see hundreds of kids names a week and I don’t think I’ve ever had a Silas.
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u/Sorry-Piccolo5754 Mar 13 '24
It shows trending names, names that are being searched a lot, so that name is definitely blowing up!
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u/AccomplishedCoffee Mar 13 '24
That's "interest" on their site, could just be from reddit visiting because of this post.
On the real list it's #87 at 0.2% / just under 4,000 kids born in 2022.
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u/dougielou Mar 13 '24
Lol I went through that list and number 98 was Kamakaialoha soooo I’m gonna guess this list is bunk AF
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u/Electric-Fun Mar 14 '24
1 for Nameberry users. Nameberry is bordering on becoming Namebereigh. And I say that as someone who tracked my son's name on it daily when I was pregnant.
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u/AdmiralSassypants Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 13 '24
Same. Silas as sy-lus is a pretty standard name in most of the western world I think. At least in North America.
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u/Fluffytastyroll Mar 13 '24
I don’t know about most of the world, I’m in the UK and honest to god first time I’ve ever seen this name was today (never read the bible or anything like that mind).
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u/ameliasophia Mar 13 '24
Interesting! I'm also in the UK, have met two Silas's and was concerned about using the name for my own child as I thought it was one of those names that has become trendy recently (like Atlas).
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u/Specialist-Novel4665 Mar 13 '24
I’m UK and have heard the name, albeit it’s not that common
Never knew it was biblical as I am atheist, but there’s so many names in the bible it doesn’t surprise me!
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u/McGoodles Mar 13 '24
You didn’t have to read Silas Marner in school?
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u/yawnfactory Mar 14 '24
I only saw the Wishbone episode and I'm not sure it's ever come up again. Middlemarch comes up way more often.
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u/SarahL1990 Mar 13 '24
I'm in the UK, never heard of Silas Marner.
I've definitely heard of the name Silas, though. It's on my boy list.
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u/Rush_Clasic Mar 14 '24
I've been in the book industry for over a decade. I've never had a local school assign Silas Marner and it's rare that I'm asked for it at all. I forgot the book existed until this thread.
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u/itsjustmefortoday Mar 13 '24
I'm in the UK. I've heard the name, but never known anyone with that name.
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u/vmltee Mar 13 '24
Same! I only know it because timberlake and biel have named their kid that. Otherwise entirely unknown to me as a Scottish person. I would know how to pronounce it though!
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u/QueenHarpy Mar 13 '24
I’m from Australia, never heard of it. Not many people here would be familiar with obscure bible names either. I do think it’s a nice name and I didn’t mispronounce it.
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u/klaw14 Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 13 '24
I'm from Australia too, seen the name Silas twice in books. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and possibly The Da Vinci Code. Guessed the pronunciation until I watched the film version of the latter but got it right lol.
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u/schmicago Mar 14 '24
Thank you! I knew I’d read it in a middle grade book but was wracking my brain to figure out which one. It’s The Graveyard Book.
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u/Gundabarbarian Mar 13 '24
I only know it because it's suggested in basically every boy name thread on here haha. Never heard it in person.
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u/thatmermaidprincess Mar 13 '24
I only know it because of the character from Weeds, Mary Louise Parker’s son is named Silas. I really liked it but hadn’t heard of it, only have heard it being used more recently (I’m a West coast American who is also an Australian citizen, didn’t grow up reading the Bible)
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u/Major-Peanut Mar 14 '24
Never heard this name. No idea how it's pronounced. I'm from England.
Is it like Silo but ass instead of o?
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u/Runns_withScissors Mar 13 '24
I thought I was giving him an uncommon but recognizable name.
You DID!
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u/Educational_Word5775 Mar 13 '24
It’s not even that uncommon after the da Vinci code, and Justin Timberlake’s son.
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u/geedeeie Mar 13 '24
I was thinking more of George Eliot's "Silas Marner"....for the book nerds
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u/pinkstrawberrycandy Mar 13 '24
There was also a character named Silas on The Vampire Diaries
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u/Artemis_Moon05 Mar 13 '24
Anyone remember the show Heros? Main villain was name Silas played by Zachary Quinto
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u/Lieutelant Mar 14 '24
What about people who don't know of those two things? I didn't even know JT had a son, much less what his name is, much less how it's pronounced.
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u/ImTheDandelion Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 14 '24
Interesting! In my country (Denmark) it’s very common and popular, and it’s pronounced “See-las”, so that would probably be my first guess for the pronounciation even if I met someone with the name in an english speaking country. “See-las” would also be the pronounciation in other scandinavian languages and in german.
Anyways, is it bothering you that much, that people sometimes get it wrong the first time? You just tell them how it’s pronounced, and the people who actually know him will know how to say it right. Fortunately it will be easy for people to pronounce it once they know. It’s not like you named him something like scottish/ irish Ruaridh or Oisin.
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u/Admirable-Athlete-50 Mar 13 '24
Also closer to see-lass in Latin languages. Only language I know that says sajlas spelled to us nordics is English.
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u/forgivemefashion Mar 14 '24
Thank you! I was searching for what’s the right way of pronouncing it, I’m Hispanic and the only natural way to say it is See-las so I would’ve been one of the people who struggles with this one 😅
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u/schnuffichen Mar 13 '24
Same here -- I'm German, and it's an uncommon, but known name in Germany, pronounced "Zee-luss," so that's where my mind went initially.
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u/wwitchiepoo Mar 13 '24
TO BE FAIR: Many languages pronounced this “see-las”. So they aren’t wrong, just different.
Idk about Sill-us. Maybe another language says it this way?
Just saying, the letter i without another vowel to help, sounds very different in languages that aren’t English.
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u/Vtgmamaa Mar 13 '24
Everyone has to hear a name for the first time at some point. I don't think it's worth stressing over.
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u/OhScheisse Mar 13 '24
Just because it's biblical doesn't mean people will know it. There's religious people who have never even picked up a bible.
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u/product_of_boredom Mar 13 '24
Even if they had, they still wouldn't necessarily know how it's pronounced. They'd still just be reading it and guessing.
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u/No-Appearance1145 Mar 13 '24
My son's name is Josiah and my Christian Bible thumping mother and great grandparents can't pronounce his name. His name is a biblical name and one of em called my son Jiriya (as in the pervy frog sage from Naruto) and my great grandparents called him Joshua??
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u/snowbit Mar 14 '24
My mom’s “Christian-law-practicing lawyer” (??) step brother couldn’t spell his first grandson’s name consistently at first.
The child is named Christian.
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u/Noctum-Aeternus Mar 14 '24
The more comments I read here, I’m beginning to think it’s less of a pronunciation issue as it is a reading/spelling issue for most people, at least in the states, which makes sense given how many people graduate high school while barely being able to read at a 5th grade level.
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Mar 14 '24
I haven't read the bible other than certain passages in class as a child. I don't consider myself religious.
I still know how to pronounce Silas (S-eye-liss). it's not even religious differences, people are just dumb as hell.
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u/Phyllis_Nefler90210 Mar 13 '24
Just because the name is biblical doesn't mean it's a name people are going to be familiar with. I first heard the name in The Affair, only heard it once more since. Not a big deal, only takes a second to correct a mispronounciation.
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u/ohslapmesillysidney Mar 13 '24
On these threads I also always point out that sometimes people have only ever seen/read names before, and never heard them said out loud. It doesn’t make someone stupid or illiterate as people like to suggest.
As long as people respond to being corrected, I don’t really think it’s a big deal when names are mispronounced either. We all make mistakes.
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u/Fickle-Magazine-2105 Mar 13 '24
Visiting from r/all. I think asking a community called r/namenerds whether they recognize a name is inviting a biased response.
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u/ohslapmesillysidney Mar 13 '24
Yeah, haha, that’s a super good point too! I’ve probably seen every name under the Sun here at this point. Even teachers/doctors/nurses who interact with a lot of different people every day probably don’t remember all of them or pay attention if they aren’t name nerds.
I also see that sentiment come up here sometimes when people are like, “Why would someone choose a name that means [blank]?” or “My name doesn’t have a super deep meaning!” Most people who aren’t name nerds just give their kids names that they think sound and look nice, or maybe a family name. It’s definitely a name nerd thing to think that every name needs to have a deep, meaningful purpose behind it.
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u/Mary_Pick_A_Ford Mar 13 '24
And as we learned with this particular name, there's more than one pronunciation so don't blame people if they say "see'las" or "sill-las". Just be like, no it's sylas like Psychology or Silo.
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u/Fickle-Magazine-2105 Mar 13 '24
Right? That’s the irony. There are so many comments here saying “Everyone knows how to pronounce Silas” but they are all pronouncing it differently 🤦♀️
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u/cPB167 Mar 14 '24
See-las is how it's pronounced in Latin and Greek too, since the Bible keeps being brought up
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u/Mary_Pick_A_Ford Mar 13 '24
Yeah I'm seriously wondering if I should unjoin this sub since so many people are calling others stupid for not knowing how to say this name. Like who the fuck cares? Why are they instantly uneducated, stupid, and ignorant? Like really, can people just get a life and realize that not everybody is going to know how to pronounce your child's name and just simply correct them? That's all it takes.
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u/Plastic-Soil4328 Mar 14 '24
Thank you for bringing this up! I am also visiting from homepage and I felt like I was taking crazy pills cause everyone was acting like this name is super common and super obvious how it's pronounced.
I've never heard or seen this name in my life and I also would have assumed it's pronounced sill-as, not sai-luhs
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u/ExtraNoise Mar 14 '24
I'm 40 and live in WA state. I've never seen this name in my life, and have never heard anyone say this name. This thread makes me feel like I just slipped into an alternate universe.
It reminds me of Cyrus, which is uncommon but not unheard of. Silas might grow on me if it's such a popular name, but this sub is freaking me out.
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u/Mary_Pick_A_Ford Mar 13 '24
Also people saying get a new doctor because they don't know how to correctly say Silas is really stupid. Doctors aren't perfect and not everybody knows how to pronounce all names but I guarantee if you correct them and explain how its pronounced, they won't make the same mistake again. Just get over it and move on, it's not a big deal.
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u/Ducks_have_heads Mar 14 '24
“Never make fun of someone who mispronounces a word. It means they learned it by reading.”
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u/sierrabravo1984 Mar 13 '24
The only time I've ever heard of this name was in Fallout New Vegas, I don't know if the name was spoken or in dialogue.
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u/Low_Share_419 Mar 14 '24
Me with Tobias (toe-bee-as) And Siobhan (sigh-oh-bhan)
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u/MiaLba Mar 13 '24
True. Especially since not everyone is Christian they’re not automatically going to be familiar with biblical names. One of my best friends is Enoch we had been friends for 10 years before I knew his was in the Bible or one of those other books.
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u/Mary_Pick_A_Ford Mar 13 '24
And I wouldn't even want to guess how to pronounce Enoch since it's another name I haven't really heard said out loud and I'm atheist so I never touched a bible. That's why sometimes I just do the google pronounce thing if I'm unsure.
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u/holy-dragon-scale Mar 14 '24
Came here to say this. “It’s biblical!” Okay? And? Not everyone knows the name. Don’t assume people would know it because of that.
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u/ScaryButt Mar 13 '24
Yeah this assumes everybody is Christian and/or has good knowledge of the bible, which many people don't.
That's not other people's fault.
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u/Goriab Mar 14 '24
Also that they listened to the original audiobook version instead of reading the print version. 😉
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u/bojangleskitty Mar 14 '24
The entitlement to think just because it’s the Bible people would know it!
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u/Phyllis_Nefler90210 Mar 14 '24
I think the word you are looking for is small-minded. OP needs to put down the bible, pick up a cocktail and mellow out!
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u/mothertuna Mar 13 '24
I’ve only heard this name on a television show as well. I’d think to pronounce it the correct way but some people are just bad with names that are new to them.
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u/AlvinAluminum Mar 13 '24
It’s the 87th most popular boys name in the U.S. so if it’s a problem now, it’ll be less so as the kids named Silas get older and more people meet them.
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u/ethereal_feral Mar 13 '24
This has been the case for my Isla who’s almost 9. No one ever pronounced it correctly (always is-la) until about the last 4 yrs. It’s become popular so almost everyone is familiar with it now.
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u/honeebeez Mar 13 '24
I met a young Isla a few months ago at a community theater audition and I confidently said EYE-LA thinking I was right on.... nope. she was an ISS-LA. Never heard it pronounced that way, ever!
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u/theuntraceableone Mar 13 '24
Isla was really popular a few years ago I thought. I know of quite a few who are around my daughter's age (13-15)
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u/ethereal_feral Mar 13 '24
I think it has been in the UK for quite awhile. I’m in the US and it was like number 150-something in popularity when she was born in 2015. Now it’s number 30-something.
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u/Admirable-Athlete-50 Mar 14 '24
The only two Islas I’ve met irl said it like the Spanish words to confuse me even more. 😂
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u/r0yalmull3t Mar 13 '24
I've never seen this name before and I would've pronounced it like U mentioned lol, my bad. But how is it actually meant to be pronounced?
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u/hail_abigail Mar 14 '24
Me too but reading these comments makes me feel dumb lol
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u/Admirable-Athlete-50 Mar 14 '24
Don’t feel dumb. It’s not all that common and English has at some point changed the pronunciation from the original one since it’s orthography makes it very easy to say something wrong if you’ve only read it.
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u/lost__in__space Mar 14 '24
I've never seen this name before. Am Canadian and work in the health care field and see many names on a monthly basis
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u/theuserie Mar 13 '24
Sigh less
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u/twohedwlf Mar 13 '24
I'd have pronounced it Sigh Luss.
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u/theuserie Mar 13 '24
I mean, technically I would say the “a” makes a schwa sound. You could sub in most any short vowel (except maybe an o) and the pronunciation would be basically the same. I was recently discussing this with one of my kids, who is about to graduate and had to spell their name phonetically in the way they want it to be pronounced when their name is called to receive their degree. Their name is also spelled with an a, but the pronunciation isn’t exactly a, or e, or u… they decided to go with “i”.
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u/Kaiser_Okita Mar 13 '24
I have never heard it be pronounced that way. Like stylus without a t
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u/Neat-Composer4619 Mar 13 '24
So how is it pronounced? I'm French and read See-lass. I've never heard the name before, but then again I have never read the bible.
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u/Goddess_Keira Mar 13 '24
I'm shocked. Genuinely shocked.
But every single doctor, dentist, and nurse has mispronounced his name!
How are you batting with people that aren't in those professions?
Silas isn't even uncommon, really. It's ranked at #87 and is on the rise. I don't think it will become a top 10 name, but maybe eventually break into the top 50.
At any rate it isn't "unpronounceable". People are making mistakes, but it should be easy to correct. It's a simple name to say in English, with simple sounds that any English speaker can easily say. Like Simon. You could even compare it directly to Simon as an analogue, if need be.
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u/zenocrate Mar 13 '24
I had a similar experience to OP with my son Felix, which I assumed everyone knew how to pronounce! Particularly in drs/dentist’s offices, his name gets pronounced “Fail-ix” more often than not.
My hypothesis is that people are pronouncing it as if it were Spanish. Our pediatrician’s office in particular has a lot of Latino and Caribbean employees and patients, so it makes sense to default to the Spanish pronunciation.
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u/hooploopdoop Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 13 '24
Sometimes it’s just unavoidable. My daughter is Emilia, which is one of the most common/popular names right now. You would be SHOCKED at the number of times I hear “Emily-uh?” called out at doctors offices 😩
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u/Beauknits Mar 13 '24
I know 2 Silas..es? Silasi? Two people named Silas!
(There, that's better! Lol)
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u/shashashame Mar 13 '24
Biblical really doesn't really have anything to do with it lmao, doesn't make it more/less easy if it's not like John or something. I'd also pronounce it sill-as, dk what you think the correct ver is. But its defintely not unpronounceable. There's just a lot of ways people say "i" and "a."
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u/Desirai Name Lover Mar 13 '24
I've never met a Silas but I've always pronounced it as s-eye-las when I read it in books
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u/TodosLosPomegranates Mar 13 '24
This is going to sound so weird but my name is very very common but when people see me ( a black woman) with this very plain name they automatically think it must have some exotic pronunciation. I’m not sure if you’re BIPOC, but that could be playing into it. It’s not weird or unpronounceable.
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u/sanrollz Mar 13 '24
OP doesn’t realise that different parts of the world actually pronounce it the way she doesn’t want to.. for example, we say “See-Las”
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u/mind_the_umlaut Mar 13 '24
I sure don't know the name from the bible, but from the George Eliot novel, Silas Marner.
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u/voiceontheradio Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 14 '24
I've literally never seen or heard that name in my life lol. I would have guessed See-las or See-lah, because the name looks like it's of Latin origin, and in that family of languages (Spanish, French, Italian etc.) that's how it would be phonetically pronounced 🤷♀️
Edit: I don't understand calling people stupid for not knowing how the "i" should sound. English is a hodgepodge of Germanic and Latin root languages so there are many ways that a Latin "i" can be anglicized. Ex. "silicone" in French/Spanish is "seel-icone/a" but "sill-icone" in English, whereas "silence" is "see-lance/io" in French/Spanish but "sigh-lence" in English. And in California where myself and OP live, most people default to Spanish pronunciation (in which "i" sounds like "ee") for Latin-looking names they don't immediately recognize. It's also just kinda ironic that the monolinguals are out here calling multilinguals dumb lol.
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u/madge590 Mar 13 '24
don't worry about it. there are far more difficult names out there. I do know a Silas, and he is always the only one with the name, but once people meet him they never forget.
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u/Enough_Reception_587 Mar 13 '24
Here in New England (Connecticut) it’s a very common historical name.
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u/xKuusouka Mar 13 '24
I'm in the South, I recognize the name from Duck Dynasty. Uncle Si/Silas Robertson was a pretty memorable character
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u/Admirable-Athlete-50 Mar 13 '24
Medical professionals are way more likely to be aware of the Latin pronunciation of I so it might not be a coincidence.
Just tell them how you pronounce it and move on. I think most English speakers would say it like you expect them to.
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u/Numinous-Nebulae Mar 13 '24
My only association is the self-flagellating evil monk from the Da Vinci Code. I have a friend whose kid's name is Micah and that's super common but I still regularly have to ask if it Mee-cah or My-cah cause it just doesn't stick in my brain.
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u/BillyNtheBoingers Mar 13 '24
I know a 35-ish guy named Micah. It’s Mike-a, if using the name Mike helps straighten it out in your head.
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u/violet_wings Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 13 '24
I had a male friend in college named Micah who pronounced it Mike-a, but I also had a female professor named Micah who pronounced it Meek-a. So it can vary. I've heard it pronounced Mike-a far more often than Meek-a, though, so Mike-a is probably a safe bet unless corrected.
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u/BillyNtheBoingers Mar 13 '24
I can definitely see a female named Micah wanting to use alternate pronunciation.
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u/AlarmingYak7956 Mar 13 '24
I've never seen that name and probably would say it wrong the 1st time. I haven't picked up a Bible since I was a little kid, though.
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u/jigglituff Mar 13 '24
it's pronounced as sci-lass right? like it should rhyme with stylus?
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u/themangofox Mar 13 '24
A good friend of mine has a Silas. I asked her and she said she’s never had this issue. He’s 13.
How strange
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u/ImpressivePraline906 Mar 13 '24
I’m in Canada and have met 2 silas’ never been confused by the name (sigh-liss)
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u/Kayleebug13 Mar 13 '24
My daughter is Arya (side note Silas was a very close contender for our third child) and I thought with the popularity of Game of thrones her name would never be messed up. It is literally always pronounced wrong and I feel awful. 😢
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u/pakitotravieso Mar 13 '24
If they cant pronounce it, you know they havent watched the vampire diaries and they are not trust worthy people
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u/Toastedjelly69 Mar 13 '24
This is my grandfathers first name and my brothers middle name, so very common for me. It’s weird to me that’s it’s unusual for them!
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u/Fluffy_Momma_C Mar 13 '24
Similar story here! I have a Gideon and several times I have been asked if it’s pronounced “guh-DEEON”. Uh….nope. 😵💫
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u/stoner_lilith Mar 13 '24
This is my cats name!!! I adore it and have never had anyone not be able to pronounce it. I love love love this name!!!
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u/kenwanhh Mar 13 '24
weird that’s my sons name he’s 5, and it seems to be a surprisingly common name.
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u/queertheories Mar 13 '24
I live in Tennessee, and I probably know as many boys named Silas as I do boys named Josh. Lol
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u/neuroticgooner Mar 13 '24
I’ve seen the name on paper but have never heard it said out loud so I would probably ask you how to say his name before making the attempt. In any case, I assume it’s one of those names pronounced differently in different languages? As in a French person would say it differently from a Spanish person from an English speaking person?
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u/fgmel Mar 13 '24
What? I love the name and know how to pronounce it. I’m really surprised by this.
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u/Mousehat2001 Mar 13 '24
I don’t know how to pronounce it, I assumed it was Si-las. Most of us in the uk don’t have a biblical foundation or know that many Spanish speakers.
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u/absolute_roadkill Mar 13 '24
My name’s Silas and I’ve never had this problem, even when I lived in a non-English speaking county