The History of "Miles"

Saw a neat post on another blog asking for baby name histories. Thought I'd share our story:

Ahhhh... the glorious struggle between man and woman, the tug o' war of nomen wits, the clash of the baby names. Jesse and I cycled through some ridiculous options. He was set on something Russian, and I think this is because Tom Clancy is his favorite author. I wanted something more Anglican or Grateful Deadish. Also, as teacher, there are some names that I have come to loathe. Sorry parents, sometimes it's hard to love all the kids all of the time. Anyways, here is what our conversations typically sounded like:

Me: I like Alistair, Althea, Rupert...

Jesse: Stop! Let's go with Vlad, Chekhov, or Han Solo...

Me: What? How can you say no to Alistair?!? It's so "You Can't Do That on Television."

Had Miles been born a little lady, we had settled on Ellery. Though I'm not sure if that is the spelling we settled on. Still keeping that name on the back burner, so to speak, but it does sound like celery. Crunch.

As for actually settling on the name Miles for Miles was concluded by my fourth period class. I took in a list of our favorite names and asked the kids to make fun of them. Miles was the last name on our short list, and no criticism was offered. In fact, my 8th graders thought it sounded pretty cool. That is a huge seal of approval.

We have a winner! The name is a perfect fit, and this child couldn't be anything else. Certainly not a Vlad.

Is there any surprise that the little man is so musically inclined, especially with a name like that? Who knows, he might have a little brother named Duke or Smokestack Lightning someday...