Miles

Miles is the 379th most common surname in the United States, shared by 82,573 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 3,620.

By the numbers

People: 82,573
Rank: 379th
How common: 1 in 3,620
Per 100,000: 27.6

Where the name comes from

Origin a patronymic

From Old French given name Milo, of problematic origin, possibly from an unknown Germanic element, or a short form of sla names beginning with mil- "grace, favor". The English form is associated by folk etymology with Latin mīles (“soldier”). As a surname, it is also derived from a Middle English Miles form of Michael.

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Miles described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 58.8%
Black, not Hispanic 31.5%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.9%
Hispanic or Latino 3.4%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.8%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.7%

Notable people called Miles

Vera Miles (born 1930)American actress
Sarah Miles (born 1941)British actress
Robert Miles (1969–2017)Swiss-born Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ
Sylvia Miles (1924–2019)American actress
Ken Miles (1918–1966)British racing driver
General Nelson A. Miles (1839–1925)United States Army Medal of Honor recipient and Commanding General of the United States Army
Tony Miles (1955–2001)British chess player
John Miles (1943–2018)British racing driver

People named Miles with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Miles

Also a first name

Miles has been given to 123,225 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 2024. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.