Elias

Elias is what happened to the prophet Elijah's name on its way through Greek. The Hebrew original, Eliyahu, is a short statement of faith made of El, God, and Yah, a shortening of Yahweh. Behind the Name glosses it as 'my God is Yahweh', while Wiktionary puts it the other way round, 'Yahweh is my God'. The Hebrew allows either reading, so neither is wrong.

Greek translators of the Bible wrote the prophet as Ēlias, and that is how he appears in the New Testament and in some older English Bibles. According to Behind the Name, medieval England used the name too, usually spelled Elis, before it faded in the 16th century and Puritans brought it back in the Hebrew-leaning form Elijah. Elias meanwhile stayed at home in German, Dutch and Scandinavian, with cousins such as Elia in Italian, Élie in French, Ilias in Greek and Ilyas in Arabic.

In English it is usually said ih-LYE-us, stressed on the middle syllable, whereas Germans and Dutch speakers say eh-LEE-as. Eli is the natural short form in English.

Elias ends on a soft s, so a crisp middle name such as Elias James or Elias Rowan keeps it from blurring. For a brother, Jonah and Felix share its biblical or classical feel; for a sister, Clara, Esther or Phoebe sit easily beside it.