Hylas

HIE-las; HU-las; ee-LAS

Greek

"wood, timber; trees, forest; matter"

Hylas Origin and Meaning

The name Hylas is a boy's name meaning "wood, timber; trees, forest; matter".

In Greek mythology, Hylas was a companion, servant, and/or lover to Heracles, who was kidnapped by water nymphs. There are multiple versions of the myth, some in which Hylas falls in love with the nymphs and others in which he is silenced underwater or turned into an echo.

As a name, Hylas likely derives from the Greek hyle, meaning "wood, timber" or "trees, forest", though it has also been translated to mean"matter" (as in, of the material kind).

Currently rarely used as a given name, Hylas has been a significant figure in the arts, appearing in Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene, a number of works by Oscar Wilde, in a painting by John William Waterhouse, and in the 1963 movie, Jason and the Argonauts.