What does Bis Mil mean?

The older gentleman was certainly learned. “What does Bis Mil mean?”
It was interesting because the man was a Sikh…yet knew some things about Islam. He could even read Urdu. I tested him when I showed him Urdu from Khadijah goes to School. He read it without a break in his voice.
He then started telling me that Bis Mil means “In the name of”
We were talking about Bis Mil la hir rahman nir raheem, and he was talking about God…
I actually asked an Arabic speaker this question like 2 weeks later…
She said the phrase: Bis Mil la hir rahman nir raheem….starts off really with Bismi and Allah….there is no such thing as Bis Mil as the nice gentleman said.

Recently I have felt this need for the last little while to learn Arabic. It is something on my plate of tasks…