Boy names ending in S
The admission rule is the plainest on the site: the written name ends in the letter S. What makes the set worth a page is that in most of the classical entries below, that S is not part of the name at all.
- Eliasuh-LY-usHebrew via Greek
My God is Yahweh. Greek fitted Hebrew Eliyahu with a nominative ending so the name could decline like a Greek noun, and the S never came off. Currently #13 in the U.S.
- SilasSY-lusLatin
Of the forest, by way of Silvanus, or asked for if the Aramaic reading is right. Paul's travelling companion in Acts, and #71 in the U.S.
- AtlasAT-lusGreek
The Titan holding up the sky. His Greek stem is Atlant-, which is why the ocean is Atlantic while the man is Atlas: the S is the case ending, nothing more. #75.
- MarcusMAR-kusLatin
Of Mars. A Roman first name in its plain nominative form. Strip the ending and you have Marc, Marco and Marcos, the same name in three later languages.
- NicholasNIK-uh-lusGreek
Victory of the people, from nike plus laos. A 1990s American staple now outside the current U.S. top 100.
- CassiusKASH-usLatin
A Roman clan name, traditionally glossed as hollow or vain. Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay and won the world heavyweight title under it in 1964.
- Aureliusaw-REE-lee-usLatin
Golden. The -us marks a masculine nominative singular; swap it for -a and you get Aurelia, same root, different person.
- TitusTY-tusLatin
A Roman first name with no recoverable meaning, which is unusual and rather freeing. Two syllables, no ambiguity, outside the current U.S. top 100.
- MagnusMAG-nusLatin
Great. Traditionally traced to Charlemagne's Latin title, Carolus Magnus, which Norwegian kings mistook for a second name and adopted.
- Dariusduh-RY-usPersian
He who holds firm the good. Old Persian Darayavaus became Greek Dareios and then Latin Darius; the S is a souvenir of the journey.
- CyrusSY-russPersian
Traditionally read as sun, though the Old Persian is disputed. Kurush went into Greek as Kyros and out of Latin as Cyrus.
- MosesMOH-zizHebrew
Drawn out of the water, or on the competing reading simply child of. Hebrew Mosheh picked up its S in the Greek Septuagint.
- Tobiastuh-BY-usHebrew
God is good. The Greek dress worn by Hebrew Toviyah; English later stripped it back down to Toby.
- ThomasTOM-usAramaic
Twin. Aramaic Te'oma with a Greek ending bolted on, and #34 in the U.S. today.
- LucasLOO-kusLatin
Man from Lucania. Luke and Lucas are the same Latin word, one worn down by French and one left intact. #10 in the U.S.
- JamesJAYMZHebrew
Traditionally supplanter. Hebrew Ya'aqov to Greek Iakobos to Late Latin Iacomus to Old French James; the final S survived every handover. #6.
- EllisEL-issWelsh and English
From Elias by way of a medieval English clipping, and in Wales also from Elisedd, kindly. A classical S that came home in working clothes.
- CharlesCHARLZGermanic
Free man. Germanic Karl was Latinised to Carolus, and Old French kept its subject-case S while dropping the object form Charlon. #48 in the U.S.
- MilesMYLZEnglish
Traditionally glossed as soldier, though the older Milo behind it is of uncertain origin. #44, and the jazz trumpeter Miles Davis did it no harm.
- BrooksBROOKSEnglish
Of the brook. Here the S is genuinely English: the old possessive that marked a family by where they lived. #64 in the U.S.
- HayesHAYZEnglish
From the hedged enclosure, the land fenced off from the wild. Another English plural S rather than a Latin one.
- OtisOH-tissEnglish
Son of Ode, and behind that wealth or fortune. The S is a patronymic, the same one in Jones and Williams. Otis Redding gave it a voice.
- AngusANG-gusScottish Gaelic
One strength, one choice, from Gaelic Aonghus. Here the S belongs to the root and cannot be removed without wrecking the word.
- RhysREESWelsh
Ardour, enthusiasm, traditionally glossed. Welsh to the bone; the American spelling Reese hides exactly the same name.
The S is usually a case ending, not a syllable of the name
Greek and Latin marked the subject of a sentence on the noun itself, and the masculine subject ending was -os or -us. When Hebrew and Aramaic names were carried into Greek scripture and then into Latin, they were given that ending so they could behave like ordinary nouns: Eliyahu became Elias, Mosheh became Moses, Te'oma became Thomas. The S is grammar, not meaning. You can watch it fall off when the same names pass into Italian, which drops it (Marco, Carlo, Luca), and stay on when they pass into Spanish and Portuguese, which keep it (Marcos, Carlos, Lucas).
Not every S on this list has that history, and the difference is worth knowing before you tell anyone what the name means. Brooks, Hayes and Otis carry an English S, the old genitive that turned a place or a father into a family. Angus and Rhys are Celtic words whose roots simply end in that sound. And Charles is the strangest of the three groups: it is a Germanic name that acquired a Latin ending, then kept it because Old French still declined its nouns and Charles was the subject form. For more of the classical stock, see Latin names and Greek names.
The possessive is the one practical snag. Style guides disagree, and both answers are current: the Chicago Manual adds an apostrophe and an S to almost every singular name, giving Silas's bike, while the AP Stylebook uses a bare apostrophe after a singular name already ending in S, giving Silas' bike. Pick one and hold it. The plural is regular and slightly comic when you meet it for the first time: two boys called Silas are the Silases, and their shared birthday is the Silases' birthday.
One more thing your ear will notice before your eye does. A name ending in S in front of a surname starting with S slurs into a single hiss, so Silas Sanders and Elias Sims need a beat that neither gives them. Vowel-initial and hard-consonant surnames do the opposite favour: Elias Bennett, Marcus Ford. The same rule applies inside the full name, which is a good reason to keep the middle free of another S. There is a fuller treatment in the middle names guide.