Emmajean
A feminine name blending Emma (whole or universal) and Jean (gift of God).
Name Census estimates that about 459 living Americans carry the first name Emmajean. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Emmajean today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emmajean births was 2008 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emmajean. 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
459
~ 1 in 746,741 Americans
Peak year
2008
27 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,068
Tracked since 1917
Census
Emmajean in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 720 people with the first name Emmajean, which placed it at #15,845 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
#15,845
National first-name rank
People counted
720
720 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emmajean
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmajean is White at 76.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.4%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Emmajean 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 Emmajean at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.7% · 552
- Black or African American12.4% · 89
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 38
- Two or more races4.4% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Popularity
Emmajean: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emmajean from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 192 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Emmajean remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emmajean 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 Emmajean during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emmajeans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Emmajean
The name Emmajean is a unique combination of two separate given names, Emma and Jean. Emma is a Germanic name derived from the Old German word "ermen," meaning "whole" or "universal." It gained popularity in the Middle Ages and has been a consistently popular name throughout history.
Jean, on the other hand, has its roots in the Hebrew name "Yohanan," which means "God is gracious." It was later adapted into French as "Jean" and became a common name for both men and women. The combination of these two names, Emmajean, is believed to have originated in the United States, likely in the late 19th or early 20th century.
While there are no known historical references to the name Emmajean specifically, the individual names Emma and Jean have been used for centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Emma can be found in the 9th century, when Emma of Bavaria (808-876) was a Queen of East Francia and later became a revered saint.
Another notable Emma was Emma of Normandy (c. 985-1052), who was Queen consort of England as the wife of King Ethelred the Unready and later King Canute the Great. Her influence on English culture and politics was significant during her lifetime.
The name Jean has a long history as well. One of the earliest recorded examples is Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695), a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. His collection of fables, known as "Fables of La Fontaine," has been widely influential in Western literature.
Another famous Jean was Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer whose political philosophy influenced the progress of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. His work on social contract theory and his novel "Emile, or On Education" had a profound impact on educational philosophy.
In more recent history, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development and his theory of cognitive development. His research and observations on how children acquire knowledge and understanding have had a lasting impact on the field of psychology and education.
While the name Emmajean may not have a long and storied history like its individual components, it represents a unique blend of two names with rich cultural and historical backgrounds. As a combination, it reflects the diverse influences and melting pot that characterizes the naming traditions in the United States.
People
Emmajean + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emmajean 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
Emmajean: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emmajean?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 459 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emmajean 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 746,741 US residents.
Is Emmajean a common name?
We classify Emmajean as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 705 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emmajean most popular?
The single biggest year for Emmajean was 2008, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emmajean 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 Emmajean in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 720 people with the name Emmajean, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,845 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 Emmajean 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 Emmajean?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emmajean appears almost entirely female. Of the 726 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Emmajean?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmajean is White at 76.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.4%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Emmajean most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emmajean in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.7% (552 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 Emmajean in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emmajean a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emmajean 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 Emmajean still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emmajean 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 Emmajean 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 have Emmajean as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.