Patronymic from Neil, of Irish origin meaning 'champion' or 'cloud.'
Niles carries within it one of the most ancient and storied geographic names in human civilization — the Nile, the river that cradled Egyptian civilization, whose name the ancient Greeks rendered as *Neilos* and which has been variously linked to a Semitic root meaning "river" and to the Greek word *nilós* (meaning "dark blue"). Used as a surname first, Niles likely developed as a patronymic from *Neil* or *Niall*, the great Irish and Scottish name of uncertain but possibly Celtic origin, meaning "champion" or "cloud." As a given name in its own right, Niles carries an intellectual and slightly patrician quality that the twentieth century confirmed rather than created.
In American culture, the character Niles Crane in the television series *Frasier* (1993–2004), played by David Hyde Pierce, became the defining pop-culture Niles of his generation: erudite, romantically earnest, impeccably well-read, and endearingly neurotic. Pierce won four Emmy Awards for the role, and Niles Crane's decade-long courtship of Daphne became one of the most warmly regarded slow-burn romances in sitcom history. That association is largely inescapable and, for many parents, entirely appealing.
Beyond television, Niles also appears as a place name across the American Midwest and Northeast — Niles, Ohio, the birthplace of President William McKinley, among others. Today the name reads as distinguished and slightly bookish, a choice for parents who appreciate classical restraint and don't mind a knowing Frasier reference from those old enough to make it.