Variant of Miley, a diminutive of Mildred ('gentle strength') or from a surname meaning 'smiley'.
Mylie is a contemporary spelling variant of Miley, itself a diminutive of Smiley — a nickname coined for someone with a particularly sunny, radiant smile. The name entered popular consciousness through its use as a stage name by the American singer and actress Miley Cyrus, born Destiny Hope Cyrus, who reportedly earned the nickname as a baby for her perpetually cheerful expression. Her father, country star Billy Ray Cyrus, began calling her "Smiley," which shortened to Miley and eventually became official.
The name's rapid rise after the debut of the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana in 2006 was one of the sharper celebrity-driven naming surges of the era. The spelling Mylie adds a distinctive flourish — the Y replacing the I creates a visual uniqueness that parents often seek to individualize an otherwise shared sound. It sits alongside Kylie, Rylie, and Brylie in a broader family of feminine names built on that lilting -ilee ending, a sonic pattern that has proven enduringly popular in English-speaking countries since the late twentieth century.
Beneath the pop-culture association, the name retains its original emotional content: brightness, warmth, an openness of spirit. Mylie carries the buoyant energy of its meaning wherever it goes. It is informal without being frivolous, cheerful without being saccharine.
As Miley Cyrus herself evolved from Disney ingénue to boundary-pushing artist, the name shed some of its strictly youthful associations and gained a more multifaceted cultural texture. Parents choosing Mylie today are often drawn not to the celebrity connection but to the name's sheer sonic lightness and the warm, human origin at its core — a name literally born from a smile.