+- VGFacts (https://archive.vgfacts.com)
+-- Forum: Main (https://archive.vgfacts.com/forum-1.html)
+--- Forum: Trivia Discussion (https://archive.vgfacts.com/forum-17.html)
+---- Forum: Trivia Evidence (https://archive.vgfacts.com/forum-16.html)
+---- Thread: Miles "Tails" Prower's name history (/thread-1219.html)
Miles "Tails" Prower's name history - MightyKombat - 12-16-2013
Originally, Tails' name was either going to be "Miles Prower" or "Tails", not both.
Yasushi Yamaguchi, who originally designed Tails for an internal competition, named him Miles Prower as a play on "Miles per hour", but the Sonic 2 development team wanted to simplify his design by calling him simply "Tails". Yasushi, not fond of the change, snuck the "Miles Prower" name into the concept art he drew for the character and eventually the developers decided to settle the matter by making "Miles Prower" the fox's real name with "Tails" as a nickname.
Sonic 2 has a cheat code that changes any mention and display of "Tails" in game to "Miles."
http://info.sonicretro.org/Miles_%22Tails%22_Prower#Character_Conception
Sonic retro page on the character
http://www.giantbomb.com/tails/3005-45/
Giant Bomb article
http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Miles_%22Tails%22_Prower
Sonic Wiki page on the character also mentions this trivia.
http://info.sonicretro.org/Cheat_Codes:Sonic_the_Hedgehog_2_(16-bit)
Sonic retro wiki lists the Tails Name Change cheat.