Laurie or Silas?

[Kwini]

I put it to you

Silas is just a bit too close to silage for my liking.
Really like Laurie :)

Well Silas is a boy and surely Laurie is a girl?

I wouldn't call a boy Laurie, honestly, I have heard of Laurie Lee and read Little Women but it sounds waaaay too much like Lauren or Laura.
Even Joey (Friends) thought Laurie was a girl. Like Laurey in Oklahoma!

One vote for each, then. Any others?

Silas is lovely for a boy.

Laurence (Laurie) is a girls name to my ears. The male version is Laurent.

I vote for Silas - lovely, classic underused name. Great choice!

Not keen on Laurie at all, I'm afraid.

Well, in English, not French, Laurence is the male version and Laura/Lauren the female version of the name; Laurent is not an English name.

I think Laurie is lovely and know 2 boys called this (though one is spelled Lawrie).

Silas is very Cold Comfort Farm - taciturn men glumly staring at the snood of porridge. Cclose to 'silage' and 'silo' and 'silt' and to me sounds like a cross between 'silent' and 'alas'.

Whilst I do like both names, I agree about the agricultural connotations for Silas and the girli-ness of Laurie. I guess it also depends where you live. There may well be boys called Laurie in Brighton for example, but I doubt they'd fair so well in a Newcastle school.

How do you pronounce Silas:
See-las
or
Sy-las?

Laurence is indeed a girls name in France, the male form of Laurent. And Laurie may be too close to Laura/Lauren?

Silas, would always think of Silas Marner, who was pretty miserable, or the character Sylar from Heroes.

I would go for Laurence or Laurent officially and shorten it to Laurie...

Laurie is fine if the full name is Laurence/Lawrence. It's cute as a nn, not as a full name. But I prefer Silas.

Thisside, it's pronounced Sigh-luss.

Laurie or Lawrie.

Silas makes me think of that weird 70s european kids tv programme, with boy called silas on a horse with a lame friend godick and a strange with-like villainess. I seem also to remember a weird wind mill. Was spooky.

Silas just sounds a bit scowly to me.

Laurie is lovely - I know 2 boys called Laurie, and they're both really nice (not that their personalities have anything to do with it, but if they were little shits, I probably wouldn't like the name IYSWIM)

I know one boy Laurie, but personally prefer Silas. He would have to be a bit wild and have unkempt hair, in my mind!

Silas is beyond awful and makes me think of Silas Marner.

Laurie is quite cute, but only as a nickname.

If I had to choose would be Silas. But neither are particularly nice - Silas is the creepy monk from Da Vinci Code, and Laurie sounds unfinished, its a nickname, surely?

Laurie (nn for Laurence) definitely.

Silas I find a bit of a gloomy name.

I know a male and a female Laurie (full names for both of them) and it suits them both.

I'm with Pooka. Silas reminds me of that badly dubbed 80's kid's TV show and yes it did involve a windmill!

I know a male Laurie and I think it's nice. Silas just seems uber American dust-bowl Grapes of Wrath to me. It's not a bad name in itself, but I think it's not going to suit everyone.

Love Laurence shortened to Laurie

One of my first crushes was on that Silas in the 80s programme!

It seemed such an exciting storyline at the time. He found out he'd been stolen by travellers as a baby, and tried to trace his birth mother. I've always loved the name Silas because of him, but I wouldn't use it for a child.

Have you thought about the Finnish name Lauri, pr Lau-ree, rhyming Lau with cow if that makes sense?

That's interesting, Cuppa - so, a bit like 'lourie' (as in the bird)?..

Silas. I think Laurie sounds more girly, and also it's more of a nn for Laurence (which I prefer as a French girl's name. Lowry as in the painter might be nicer for a boy?

But Silas is a good, solid, old name.

Silas is a lovely name.

A version of Saul?

Isn´t there a St Silas?

And what´s wrong with Silas Marner?