Emelin
A feminine name of Russian origin, possibly relating to the Greek term "melios" meaning "honey".
Name Census estimates that about 828 living Americans carry the first name Emelin. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Emelin today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emelin births was 2006 (62 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emelin. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
828
~ 1 in 413,955 Americans
Peak year
2006
62 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,001
Tracked since 1991
Census
Emelin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 811 people with the first name Emelin, which placed it at #14,514 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,514
National first-name rank
People counted
811
811 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
89.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emelin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emelin is Hispanic at 89.9%. The next largest groups are White (6.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Emelin described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Emelin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino89.9% · 729
- White6.9% · 56
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 14
- Black or African American1.5% · 12
Popularity
Emelin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emelin from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 461 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emelin by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Emelin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emelins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Emelin, while South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emelin
The name Emelin is believed to have originated from the French language, derived from the Germanic name Amalwin, which combines the elements "amal" meaning "work" and "win" meaning "friend." It was initially a masculine name used in medieval France.
In the early Middle Ages, the name was often spelled as Emeline or Emmeline, with variations like Emelina and Emelyne appearing in different regions of France. These spellings were commonly found in historical records and documents from the 11th to 13th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Emelin can be traced back to a French noblewoman named Emmeline de Riddesdale, who lived in the 12th century. She was a prominent figure in the court of King Henry II of England and is mentioned in several historical chronicles from that era.
Another notable bearer of the name was Saint Emmeline (also known as Emmeline of Cammin), a 13th-century Polish princess who later became a nun and was canonized by the Catholic Church. Her feast day is celebrated on January 8th in certain regions of Poland.
In the 14th century, an English writer and philosopher named Emeline de Freteville gained recognition for her literary works, which explored topics related to religion and philosophy.
During the Renaissance period, Emelin became a popular name among the French aristocracy. One notable figure from this time was Emeline de Breteuil, a French noblewoman and courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine de' Medici in the 16th century.
In more recent times, Emelin has been used as a feminine given name, although its popularity has varied across different cultures and regions. One prominent individual with this name was Emelin Pankhurst, a British political activist and suffragette who played a significant role in the women's suffrage movement in the early 20th century (1858-1928).
While the name Emelin has seen fluctuations in usage over the centuries, it continues to hold a unique place in the history of given names, reflecting its French origins and the influence of various cultural and historical factors.
People
Emelin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emelin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Emelin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emelin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 828 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emelin going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 413,955 US residents.
Is Emelin a common name?
We classify Emelin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 840 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emelin most popular?
The single biggest year for Emelin was 2006, when 62 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emelin is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emelin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 811 people with the name Emelin, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,514 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Emelin in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Emelin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emelin leans strongly female. 793 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 19 male bearers (2.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Emelin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emelin is Hispanic at 89.9%. The next largest groups are White (6.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Emelin most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Emelin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.9% (729 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Emelin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emelin a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emelin in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Emelin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emelin in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Emelin can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Emelin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.