(I'm American, and we generally pronounce it mie-lo.)
I feel like circa 2000 it would have been perceived as a hip artsy name, though that impression is probably coming from Pepper
Ann (it's a cartoon,
Milo was her BFF and was smart/creative/laidback). It was also used for a fictional Renaissance genius in the show Alias around that time.
After that, for a while, I think it came across to me as try-hard, as opposed to just using
Miles /
Myles, or it seemed like people were reaching for a European sounding name maybe, just to be fashionable. Now it seems more standard to me, about like
Matteo and
Luka would. It's popular currently, and it seems pleasant enough...I always thought
Myles seemed friendly, and I still primarily think of
Milo as a variant of that.
A couple unpleasant associations I have with it are
Milo Yiannopoulos and
Boris Johnson (it's his son's name), but it's used often enough that they're not strong associations.
I think with the mee-lo pronunciation, I'd prefer
Milan (I guess that'd just seem more familiar to me?) to it. Also it'd remind me more of
Mila than "mie-lo" does.
Mila has been very popular in the US recently, and I don't dislike it.
~ song of the week: "Korreltjie Sand"
https://youtu.be/brh5EX59WrYThis message was edited 11/12/2021, 1:01 PM