Emery
A unisex name derived from the Old French word "aimerie" meaning "industrious".
Name Census estimates that about 52,017 living Americans carry the first name Emery. It sits at #70 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 66.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Emery today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emery births was 2024 (3,499 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Annabelle (52,012).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emery. 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 Emery with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Emery started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Emery is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
52K
~ 1 in 6,589 Americans
Peak year
2024
3,499 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#70
Tracked since 1880
Census
Emery in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 33,502 people with the first name Emery, which placed it at #1,174 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
#1,174
National first-name rank
People counted
34K
33,502 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emery
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emery is White at 70.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.1%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Emery 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 Emery at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.9% · 23,738
- Hispanic or Latino12.1% · 4,062
- Black or African American7.7% · 2,589
- Two or more races6.1% · 2,048
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 596
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 469
Gender
Gender distribution for Emery
Emery is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 60,709 total registrations, 20,100 (33.1%) were male and 40,609 (66.9%) were female.
Emery as a male name
- Ranked #823 in 2024
- 302 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (367 births)
Emery as a female name
- Ranked #70 in 2024
- 3,197 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (3,197 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Emery on both sides of the split. Of the 33,516 people counted with this name, 9,623 were male (28.7%) and 23,893 were female (71.3%).
Popularity
Emery: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emery 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 24,251 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Emery remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emery 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 Emery during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emerys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Emery, while Vermont, Rhode Island, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,018 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emery
The name Emery has its origins in the Late Latin word "smirillus," which means "to polish or grind." This name was initially used as a professional title for someone who worked as a polisher or grinder, particularly of gemstones or metals.
In the Middle Ages, the name Emery became associated with the mineral emery, a granular variety of corundum used for polishing and grinding. This connection likely contributed to the name's evolution and its use as a given name.
The earliest recorded use of Emery as a given name dates back to the 13th century in France and England. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Emery de Rivo, a 13th-century English landowner and feudal baron.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Emery. One of the most prominent was Emery Molyneux (1639-1698), an English philosopher and writer who was a prominent advocate of the mechanical philosophy of René Descartes.
Another notable figure was Emery Washburn (1800-1877), an American politician and jurist who served as the 25th governor of Massachusetts. He was also a professor at Harvard Law School and played a significant role in shaping the legal system of Massachusetts.
In the field of literature, Emery Walker (1851-1933) was a renowned English engraver, printer, and typographer. He collaborated with William Morris and was instrumental in the revival of fine printing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Emery Reves (1904-1981) was a Hungarian-American writer and publisher who founded the influential literary magazine "Cooperation Press" and authored several books on political and economic topics.
Emery Barnes (1929-1998) was an American jazz drummer and percussionist who played with notable artists such as Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie, and was a key figure in the development of bebop and hard bop.
The name Emery has been used across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its historical roots as a professional title and its association with the polishing and grinding of materials. Despite its occupational origins, the name has transcended its initial meaning and has been embraced as a given name for both men and women.
People
Emery + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emery 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
Emery: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emery?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 52,017 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emery 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 6,589 US residents.
Is Emery a common name?
We classify Emery as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 60,709 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emery most popular?
The single biggest year for Emery was 2024, when 3,499 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emery is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emery in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 33,502 people with the name Emery, or 11.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,174 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 Emery 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 Emery?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Emery on both sides of the split. Of the 33,516 people counted with this name, 9,623 were male (28.7%) and 23,893 were female (71.3%). 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 Emery?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emery is White at 70.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.1%) and Black (7.7%). 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 Emery most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emery in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.9% (23,738 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 Emery in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emery a female name?
Yes, 66.9% of people registered as Emery 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 Emery still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emery 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 Emery 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 called Emery?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.