‘Teen Wolf’ Season 6 Spoilers: What Is Stiles’ Real Name? Meaning Behind The Unusual Moniker

“Teen Wolf” didn’t bring Stiles back yet, but the MTV drama revealed more about him. When Sheriff Stilinski finally remembered his son, he revealed Stiles’ real name.

“I have a son. His name is Mieczysław Stilinski, but we call him Stiles,” the Sheriff (Linden Ashby) declared at the end of Season 6, episode 8. Naturally, Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) had a tough time pronouncing his name as a kid. The closest he could get was “mischief,” which is what his mother Claudia (Joey Hansa) called him.

Mieczysław, pronounced like mee-chee-suave, is indeed a real name. According to Behind the Name, it’s derived from two Slavic words: “mechi” and “slava” which mean glory and sword, respectively. However, it seems the “Teen Wolf” writers didn’t choose the name for its meaning, but how it sounded.

“Teen Wolf” executive producer Jeff Davis revealed that he has had this name picked out for quite some time. “A few years ago, I knew I would have to actually reveal Stiles’s name at some point,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “I was looking for a Polish name that was incredibly difficult to both spell and pronounce. Mieczysław sounded like ‘mischief.’ It seemed like a perfect word to describe Stiles. Both as a mischievous child and equally misbehaved adult.”

Stiles’ parents, however, had a different reason for giving their son such a difficult name. Just after the Ghost Riders erased his son, the Sheriff started having dreams about naming a baby — dreams which were clearly memories.

It was revealed in Season 6 that the Sheriff had an abusive father. He wanted to name Stiles after his wife Claudia’s father because that’s the kind of dad he hoped to be. “Okay, we’ll name him that, but it won’t matter. He’ll just be called Stiles anyway,” Claudia had told the Sheriff.

Stiles’ name wasn’t the only one revealed this season. After years of simply calling him the Sheriff, the older Stilinski’s first name was revealed as Noah. On the “Teen Wolf After After Show,” Ashby explained that the name was suggested by a fan.

“She said, ‘No, I think it’s Noah because you’ve protected all these people and you’ve brought all of these people together. It’s like Noah,’” Ashby recalled. “And I told Jeff about it, and he was like, ‘I like that.’”

“Teen Wolf” Season 6, episode 7 airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST on MTV.