Giles

Meaning

The etymology of Giles is debated. In older name books it is commonly connected with Latin Aegidius, which was sometimes explained as meaning “with the aegis,” though other scholars in those sources also suggest links to Julius or to older Germanic/Celtic forms. In English usage, it is strongly tied to St. Giles, which helped establish it as a given name.

Origin

Fun fact

19th-century writers explicitly disagreed about whether Giles comes from Aegidius, Julius, a Keltic form meaning “servant,” or a Teutonic word for “pledge.”