Miles

Miles, which took on a permanent veneer of cool thanks to jazz great Miles Davis, is a confident and polished name that has been appreciated in particular by celebrity baby namers, including Elisabeth Shue, Mayim Bialik, Larenz Tate, Joan Cusack and Lionel Ritchie. Ranking at Number 115, it is by far at its highest point ever.

Miles was the name of the first translator of the Bible into English--the English monk Miles Coverdale, which is also the name of a character in Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance. Miles Hendon figures in Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, and Miles was one of the young children in Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. Miles--or Myles--Standish was the leader of the Pilgrim fathers.

Miles has also been a favorite movie and TV character name from the days of "Murphy Brown" to "24" and "Avatar."