Emett
A diminutive form of the Old French name Emmerich meaning "prosperous ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 227 living Americans carry the first name Emett. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Emett today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emett births was 2015 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emett. 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
227
~ 1 in 1,509,931 Americans
Peak year
2015
25 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,930
Tracked since 1883
Census
Emett in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 293 people with the first name Emett, which placed it at #29,959 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
#29,959
National first-name rank
People counted
293
293 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emett
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emett is White at 67.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Black (8.5%). 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 Emett 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 Emett at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.9% · 199
- Hispanic or Latino14.0% · 41
- Black or African American8.5% · 25
- Two or more races4.4% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 7
Popularity
Emett: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emett from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 153 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Emett remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emett 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 Emett during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emett
The name Emett has its origins in the Old English language, tracing back to the Anglo-Saxon period of the 5th to 11th centuries. It is derived from the Old English words "eme," meaning "uncle," and "ēad," meaning "wealth" or "prosperity." The combination of these words suggests that the name could have initially been used to refer to a wealthy or respected uncle or elder within a family or community.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Emett can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and their holdings compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. This suggests that the name was in use among the Anglo-Saxon population of England before the Norman Conquest.
In the 12th century, an English monk named Emett of Winchester (c. 1125-1197) gained recognition for his scholarly work, including a treatise on the calculation of Easter. His writings provide evidence of the name's continued usage during the Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance period, Emett Litton (c. 1530-1595) was a prominent English author and playwright known for his satirical works critiquing the social and political climate of Elizabethan England.
In the 17th century, Emett Warburton (1629-1695) was a notable English philosopher and theologian who contributed to the intellectual discourse of his time through his writings on morality and religious ethics.
In the 19th century, Emett Pinkney (1819-1901) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland.
While the name Emett has maintained a presence throughout history, it has remained relatively uncommon, particularly in more recent times. However, its rich linguistic heritage and historical associations continue to make it a distinctive and meaningful name choice.
People
Emett + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emett 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
Emett: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emett?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 227 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emett 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 1,509,931 US residents.
Is Emett a common name?
We classify Emett as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 346 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emett most popular?
The single biggest year for Emett was 2015, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emett is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emett in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 293 people with the name Emett, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,959 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 Emett 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 Emett?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emett leans strongly male. 286 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Emett?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emett is White at 67.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Black (8.5%). 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 Emett most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emett in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.9% (199 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 Emett in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emett a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emett in the SSA data are male. 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 Emett still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emett 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 Emett 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 Emett?
Want to know how many people share the name Emett? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.