Emmalou
A feminine name combining Emma, meaning "whole" or "universal", with Lou, a diminutive form of Louise, meaning "renowned warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 179 living Americans carry the first name Emmalou. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Emmalou today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emmalou births was 2014 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emmalou. 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
179
~ 1 in 1,914,829 Americans
Peak year
2014
15 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,951
Tracked since 1913
Census
Emmalou in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 316 people with the first name Emmalou, which placed it at #28,429 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
#28,429
National first-name rank
People counted
316
316 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emmalou
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmalou is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Emmalou 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 Emmalou at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.8% · 271
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 12
- Black or African American3.2% · 10
- Two or more races1.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Emmalou: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emmalou from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 97 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Emmalou remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emmalou 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 Emmalou 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 Emmalou
The given name Emmalou is a combination of two distinct names, Emma and Lou. Emma is a German name derived from the Old German word "ermen" meaning "whole" or "universal." Its origins can be traced back to the 9th century, and it was popularized in the Middle Ages as a Germanic given name.
Lou is a shortened form of the French name Louise, which itself is derived from the Germanic name Hlodwig or Chlodovechus. This name was borne by the Frankish king Clovis I, who reigned in the 5th-6th centuries and played a pivotal role in the spread of Christianity in ancient France.
The combination of Emma and Lou into Emmalou is a more recent creation, likely emerging in the 20th century as a unique blend of these two names. While there are no definitive historical records or ancient texts mentioning Emmalou specifically, it draws from the rich cultural heritage of both its component names.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Emmalou was Emmalou Norby, an American writer and actress born in 1944. She is best known for her work in children's literature and her contributions to the "Sweet Valley High" book series.
Another notable figure was Emmalou Kirchmeier (1931-2017), an American painter and artist known for her vibrant abstract expressionist works. Her paintings have been featured in numerous galleries and exhibitions throughout the United States.
In the field of music, Emmalou Dietz (born 1958) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who has released several albums and performed extensively across North America.
Emmalou Jacobson (1923-2012) was a Norwegian-born American actress and dancer who appeared in several Broadway productions and Hollywood films in the mid-20th century.
Lastly, Emmalou Norred (born 1951) is an American businesswoman and entrepreneur who co-founded the successful software company Norred & Associates in the 1980s.
These individuals, spanning various fields and time periods, provide a glimpse into the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments associated with the name Emmalou throughout history.
People
Emmalou + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emmalou 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
Emmalou: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emmalou?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 179 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emmalou 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 1,914,829 US residents.
Is Emmalou a common name?
We classify Emmalou as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 269 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emmalou most popular?
The single biggest year for Emmalou was 2014, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emmalou is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emmalou in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 316 people with the name Emmalou, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,429 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 Emmalou 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 Emmalou?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emmalou leans strongly female. 316 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Emmalou?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmalou is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Emmalou most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emmalou in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.8% (271 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 Emmalou in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emmalou a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emmalou 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 Emmalou still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emmalou 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 Emmalou 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 the name Emmalou?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.