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The Silar and Siler surnames are an Americanized spelling of German name Seiler. Other prominent varients of this name are Sieler and Siller. The Seiler surname appears to have originated from two occupational sources. Firstly, it is the name for a harness maker, coming from an agent derivative of the Middle High German word ‘sil’ meaning a harness for draught animals. Secondly, a Seiler is a ropemaker as derived from the German word 'Seil' meaning rope. Men of this trade are also known to have been engaged in the trade of making sails for ships which seems to have led to other varian spellings of the name such a Saylor, Seyler, and Sailer.
There is also an English surname of Seiler. This name is an occupational name for a dancer or acrobat. The name was derived from the Old French word Sailleor, and rendered in medieval documents in the Latin form Salitor. The name also found in the variant spellings Saillier and Saillant. The name is now rare in England, although found frequently in the United States of America.
Most German names have their roots in the Germanic Middle Ages. The process of forming family names in what is present day Germany began early in the 12th Century and extended through the 16th century. Seiler is a very old Germanic name and is one of the early names recorded in that region of Europe. Due to its popularity and duration this name, and its variant spellings, have traveled widely in many forms throughout the continent. Seiler is first found in the locality of Basel, Switzerland, where the name came from humble beginnings but gained a significant reputation for its contribution to the emerging mediaeval society. The area of Basel is located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet in northwest Switzerland on the river Rhine. Culturally this region extends into German Baden-Württemberg and French Alsace. The earliest recordings of the surname or a close variant is that of Jakob der Seiler of Freiburg in the year 1291, and a Martin Seilmann of Ihringen in 1531. Both of these places are located in southwestern Baden-Württemberg, Germany well within the aforementioned “Basel cultural region.”
This Germanic surname appeared quite early into the former British colonies of North America, especially William Penn’s Province of Pennsylvania. One reason for this was that after the prince of the Electorate of Hanover, in Germany also became king of England in 1715, as a result German emigration to America was greatly encouraged from that time on to about 1777. A resulting factor of this great migration is that the Seiler German name tends to be confused with the English versions due to the fact that the name from both countries is often in the same or similar spelling, which is perhaps not surprising as they share pre 7th century "Anglo-Saxon" roots. Many of these German immigrants, particularly those with easy English equivalents, were encouraged and in some cases required to change to an English spelling. Many persons with the Seiler surname changed the spelling to the English Sailor or Saylor which has the same sound when pronounced in English. Also many German surnames were re-spelled in America because of the close relationship between the English and German languages. This was the case with many sea captains or their agents who, when making up the ships passenger lists, found it easier to use a more familiar English spelling. As the general level of education in America increased after the American Civil War many formerly illiterate immigrants and their descendents began to standardize the spelling of their surname. This is the basis for the emergence of the variant spelling of Silar* as found in York County, Pennsylvania. Also after the start of World War One, Germans in the United States, in great numbers, Anglicized their names in an effort to remove all doubt as to their patriotism.
Notable persons having this surname are: Brandon Siler, American football linebacker; Eugene Siler, American politician; Howard Siler, American bobsledder; Joseph Franklin Siler, U.S. Army physician and dengue researcher; Lester Eugene Siler, convicted drug dealer; Owen W. Siler, admiral in the United States Coast Guard; Ronald Siler, American amateur boxer; Todd Siler, American visual artist, author, educator and inventor.
Today about 39 persons per million in the United States have the Seiler surname. The heaviest concentration of the name is found in the north-central states of North and South Dakota. In Germany almost 208 persons per million have the Seiler surname. The most significant clustering of the name is found in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Thüringen, Saxony, and Brandenburg. A review of the 1930 census identifies approximately 300 households with the Silar surname living in the United States. The surname is found in 32 states, of which Pennsylvania with 64 households is the largest. This is almost one-quarter (21.3%) of the total. It is also interesting to note that of these 64 persons, 61 were identified as living in York County, Pennsylvania.
* According to the 1920 census the majority of families using the Silar surname were primarily located in Pennsylvania, and Texas. It is most probable that these are two distinctly different families. The Texas Silar family may have originated in what is now the Czech Republic and may have brought the surname with them from Europe where as the Pennsylvania family is a variant of the Seiler surname. The earliest documentation that this researcher could find regarding what would become the Silar surname of today is in the 1820 United States Census where the surname, of this family’s progenitor in America, Johann Frederick Seiler, appears to be spelled as “Sellers” or “Seilers”. In the 1830 Census the spelling is “Syler”. The “Seiler” spelling is found for both Frederick and his son George W. Sr. in the 1831 Tax records of York County. In the 1840 census both Frederick and George are listed as “Siler”, and in 1850 as “Seiler”. It should be noted here that John Frederick Seiler and his wife Catharine may have had at least four sons to carry on the surname. Two if these sons have been identified as George W., born c.1809, and Henry, born c.1814 both of whom were blacksmiths like their father. In the four census documents from 1850 to 1880 Henry is listed as either “Siler” or “Syler”. It appears that Henry’s descendents spell their surname as Siler. In the 1860 census both George W. and his mother Catharine are listed as “Saylor”. It is not until the 1870 census that we see the use of “Silar” by George W. Silar, Sr.. In later census documents there only rare instances where an alternative spelling is utilized and it is usually “Siler”. Research shows that the Silar spelling is used almost exclusively by the male descendents of George W. Sr. and his sons: George, Jr.; Franklin, and William Henry. It does not appear that any of the other descendents of Frederick Seiler chose to use the Silar surname.