Miles

A trumpet, a studio in 1959, the first hushed notes of "So What" setting the tone for every cool jazz record that followed — Miles Davis stamped this name with an entire musical sensibility. The name itself is older, likely from the Latin miles, "soldier," though some trace it to a Slavic root meaning "gracious." It arrived in English by way of Norman conquest and has stayed on the quieter shelves of the boys' register ever since, now sitting at rank 37. One syllable, one long vowel, and a closing S that trails like smoke. The name walks into a room without knocking.