Miles
Originally a medieval given name from the Latin Milo, later adopted as a hereditary surname.
The #368 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 3,635 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Miles is usually traced to the medieval personal name Milo, ultimately from Latin Milo. The deeper origin of Milo is uncertain; some scholars connected it with a Greek word meaning something like "mill" or "grind," but that explanation is not certain. The surname developed as a patronymic, meaning "son or descendant of Milo," with the English -s ending marking that relationship.
History
The name Milo is attested in Domesday Book, where it appears as the name of a Norman landholder, and it continued in medieval records in forms such as Milo and Miles. As a surname, Miles became established in England from this personal-name source, and it later spread widely in Britain and beyond. Because the given name itself was fairly common in Norman and medieval usage, the surname has several independent family lines rather than a single origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The medieval forename Milo survived long enough that some early records use Miles as a personal name before it became firmly fixed as a surname.
From the historical record
“century. MILES I f. the classical Milo, with the Eng. genit. -5 suffix. [Lat. Milo{n, Gr. M(Xu»; prob. rel. to Gr. fiiSWa, to mill, crush] Milo occurs in Domesday Book as the name of a Norman landholder ; and afterwards we find Milo le Mssset.— Hund. Rolls.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Miles
- Vera Miles (b. 1930)
- Sarah Miles (b. 1941)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.