Emile
A masculine French name meaning "industrious, hardworking".
Name Census estimates that about 4,373 living Americans carry the first name Emile. It is a predominantly male name (93.0% of registrations). The average person named Emile today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emile births was 1921 (171 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emile. 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
4.4K
~ 1 in 78,380 Americans
Peak year
1921
171 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,918
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Emile
Emile leans heavily male at 93.0% of total registrations, but 648 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Emile as a male name
- Ranked #1,918 in 2024
- 82 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (167 births)
Emile as a female name
- Ranked #14,334 in 2018
- 6 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1988 (17 births)
Popularity
Emile: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emile from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,482 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emile 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 Emile during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emiles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Louisiana, Massachusetts, California recorded the most babies named Emile, while Washington, Maryland, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 243 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emile
The name Emile originated from the Roman family name Aemilius, derived from the Latin word aemulus, meaning "rival". This name was first recorded in ancient Rome and was particularly popular among the aristocratic Aemilian family. The name Aemilius later evolved into the French form Emile during the Middle Ages.
In the 4th century, there was a Roman grammarian named Emilius Asper who wrote a commentary on the works of Virgil. This is one of the earliest documented uses of the name Emilius. During the Middle Ages, Emile became a popular name in France, with many notable individuals bearing this name.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Emile is Saint Emile de Rouen, a 7th-century bishop of Rouen in France. He was known for his charitable works and for founding several monasteries in the region. Another notable figure was Emile Littré (1801-1881), a French philosopher, lexicographer, and translator who is best known for his influential dictionary, the Dictionnaire de la langue française.
In the realm of literature, Emile Zola (1840-1902) was a renowned French novelist and a leading figure in the literary movement of naturalism. His works, such as the Rougon-Macquart cycle, explored the social and moral issues of his time. Another famous writer was Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), a French sociologist who is considered one of the founders of modern sociology.
In the field of science, Emile Borel (1871-1956) was a French mathematician and one of the pioneers of measure theory and probability theory. His contributions to the field of mathematics were widely recognized. Emile Berliner (1851-1929), a German-American inventor, is best known for inventing the flat disc record and the Gramophone, which revolutionized the recording industry.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the name Emile throughout history, showcasing its enduring popularity and cultural significance across various fields and disciplines.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Emile
People
Emile + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emile 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
Emile: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emile?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,373 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emile 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 78,380 US residents.
Is Emile a common name?
We classify Emile as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,218 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emile most popular?
The single biggest year for Emile was 1921, when 171 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emile is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Emile a male name?
Yes, 93.0% of people registered as Emile 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.
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.