Niles

Where Niles comes from

Niles hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1888
    Niles Welch born
    American actor
  2. 1897
    First appearance
    #1,057 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1942
    Peak, #888
    55 babies named Niles — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1943
    Niles Eldredge born
    American biologist
  5. 1966
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,650.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Niles Eldredge · American biologist, born 1943
  • Niles Welch · American actor, 1888–1976

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.