Emeline
A feminine name of French origin meaning "industrious" or "hardworking".
Name Census estimates that about 2,281 living Americans carry the first name Emeline. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Emeline today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emeline births was 2016 (104 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emeline. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Emeline with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 150,265 Americans
Peak year
2016
104 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,365
Tracked since 1880
Census
Emeline in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,271 people with the first name Emeline, which placed it at #6,898 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
#6,898
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,271 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emeline
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emeline is White at 62.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.7%). 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 Emeline 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 Emeline at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.9% · 1,429
- Hispanic or Latino11.9% · 271
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.7% · 244
- Black or African American8.8% · 199
- Two or more races4.6% · 105
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 23
Popularity
Emeline: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emeline from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 875 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Emeline remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emeline 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 Emeline during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emelines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Emeline, while Washington, Ohio, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emeline
The name Emeline originates from the French language and culture. It is a feminine form of the masculine name Emile, which is derived from the Germanic name Aemilius. The name Aemilius itself comes from the Latin word "aemulus," meaning "rival" or "striving one."
Emeline was particularly popular in France during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. The name has variations in spelling, such as Emmeline, Emelyne, and Emiline, but the meaning remains the same – "rival" or "striving one."
One of the earliest known references to the name Emeline can be found in the 12th-century literary work "Roman de la Rose" by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. In this allegorical poem, Emeline is mentioned as one of the maidens accompanying the character of Jealousy.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Emeline. One such person was Emeline Rodat (1787-1852), a French poet and writer who was part of the Romantic literary movement in France. Another was Emeline Wehrle (1848-1904), an American educator and reformer who played a significant role in establishing kindergartens in the United States.
In the realm of art, Emeline Petronilla Sundborn (1840-1923) was a Swedish painter known for her portraits and genre scenes. Emeline Burr Cleveland (1806-1867), on the other hand, was the wife of Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.
Another notable Emeline was Emeline Macaulay (1788-1882), a Scottish writer and philanthropist who advocated for the abolition of slavery and the education of women.
While the name Emeline has been less common in recent times, it has a rich historical background and has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including writers, artists, educators, and pioneers in their respective fields.
People
Emeline + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emeline 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
Emeline: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emeline?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,281 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emeline 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 150,265 US residents.
Is Emeline a common name?
We classify Emeline as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,550 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emeline most popular?
The single biggest year for Emeline was 2016, when 104 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emeline is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emeline in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,271 people with the name Emeline, or 0.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,898 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 Emeline 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 Emeline?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emeline appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,279 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 Emeline?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emeline is White at 62.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.7%). 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 Emeline most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emeline in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.9% (1,429 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 Emeline in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emeline a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emeline 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 Emeline still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emeline 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 Emeline 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 share the name Emeline?
You can see how many Americans are named Emeline on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.