Emelina
Feminine variant of the Latin name Aemilia meaning "industrious, hard-working".
Name Census estimates that about 694 living Americans carry the first name Emelina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Emelina today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emelina births was 2023 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emelina. 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
694
~ 1 in 493,882 Americans
Peak year
2023
43 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,704
Tracked since 1919
Census
Emelina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,405 people with the first name Emelina, which placed it at #9,758 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
#9,758
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,405 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
78.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emelina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emelina is Hispanic at 78.8%. The next largest groups are White (9.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.4%). 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 Emelina 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 Emelina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino78.8% · 1,107
- White9.8% · 137
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.4% · 132
- Black or African American1.0% · 14
- Two or more races0.9% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Emelina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emelina from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 293 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Emelina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emelina 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 Emelina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emelinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Emelina, while New York, New Mexico, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emelina
Emelina is a feminine given name with roots tracing back to the Germanic language family. The name is derived from the Old German words "amal," meaning "labor" or "work," and "lind," meaning "soft" or "tender." Together, the name can be interpreted to mean something along the lines of "hardworking and gentle."
The earliest recorded instances of the name Emelina date back to the Middle Ages across various regions of Europe. It was particularly popular in areas with Germanic cultural influences, such as parts of modern-day Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Historical records from the 12th and 13th centuries mention several individuals bearing the name Emelina, although their exact identities and life stories have been lost to time.
One of the earliest known mentions of the name Emelina can be found in the annals of the Benedictine monastery in Weingarten, Germany, where a nun named Emelina is recorded as having lived and served in the late 12th century. Unfortunately, little is known about her life beyond this brief reference.
In the 14th century, an Italian noblewoman named Emelina Visconti (1347-1376) gained prominence as the wife of Galeazzo II Visconti, the Lord of Milan. Her marriage helped solidify political alliances and strengthen the Visconti dynasty's influence in northern Italy.
During the Renaissance period, Emelina von Metzenhausen (1480-1532) was a German nun and writer who authored several religious works and correspondence. Her writings provide valuable insights into the spiritual and intellectual life of women in monastic communities during that era.
In the 17th century, Emelina Griffith (1634-1695) was a Welsh heiress and landowner who played a significant role in preserving the Griffith family's estates and legacy. Her life and actions were documented in various historical records and legal documents of the time.
Moving into the 19th century, Emelina Torrijos (1833-1911) was a prominent figure in the Philippine revolution against Spanish colonial rule. She served as a close confidante and adviser to revolutionary leaders, and her contributions to the independence movement were recognized and celebrated in her homeland.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Emelina. While the name has seen ebbs and flows in popularity over the centuries, it has maintained a presence in various cultures and regions, carrying on its rich historical legacy.
People
Emelina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emelina 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
Emelina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emelina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 694 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emelina 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 493,882 US residents.
Is Emelina a common name?
We classify Emelina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 745 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emelina most popular?
The single biggest year for Emelina was 2023, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emelina is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emelina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,405 people with the name Emelina, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,758 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 Emelina 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 Emelina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emelina appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,399 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Emelina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emelina is Hispanic at 78.8%. The next largest groups are White (9.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.4%). 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 Emelina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Emelina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.8% (1,107 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 Emelina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emelina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emelina 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 Emelina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emelina 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 Emelina 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 many people are named Emelina?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Emelina at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.