Emmily
A feminine variant of the Old German name "Amal", meaning "industrious" or "hardworking".
Name Census estimates that about 939 living Americans carry the first name Emmily. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Emmily today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emmily births was 2008 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emmily. 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 Emmily with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
939
~ 1 in 365,021 Americans
Peak year
2008
42 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,440
Tracked since 1976
Census
Emmily in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 905 people with the first name Emmily, which placed it at #13,369 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
#13,369
National first-name rank
People counted
905
905 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emmily
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmily is White at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (40.2%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Emmily 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 Emmily at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.5% · 412
- Hispanic or Latino40.2% · 364
- Black or African American8.0% · 72
- Two or more races3.3% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 9
Popularity
Emmily: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emmily from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 348 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emmily 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 Emmily during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emmilys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Emmily
The name Emmily has its origins in the Latin language and culture. It is a variation of the name Emily, which is derived from the Latin word "aemulus," meaning "rival" or "striving." The name was first recorded in ancient Roman texts, but its popularity surged during the Middle Ages.
In medieval Europe, the name Emmily was often associated with strength, determination, and ambition. Some scholars believe that the name may have been inspired by the character of Emily from the Roman poet Virgil's epic work, the Aeneid. Emily was portrayed as a strong, fearless warrior who fought alongside the hero Aeneas.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Emmily can be found in the 12th century, when a noblewoman named Emmily de Montfort lived in England. She was known for her bravery and her involvement in the Crusades. Another notable figure was Emmily of Aragon, a 13th-century Spanish princess who played a significant role in the unification of the Iberian Peninsula.
During the Renaissance period, the name Emmily gained popularity among the wealthy and aristocratic classes. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Emmily Dickinson, an American poet born in 1830. Her unconventional style and exploration of themes such as death, nature, and spirituality have made her a literary icon.
In the 19th century, Emmily Brontë, the sister of the renowned writers Charlotte and Anne Brontë, was a notable figure. Although she did not achieve the same level of fame as her siblings, her writings and contributions to the Brontë literary legacy have been widely recognized.
Another influential woman named Emmily was Emmily Pankhurst, a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement in the early 20th century. Born in 1858, she dedicated her life to campaigning for women's right to vote and played a pivotal role in the struggle for gender equality.
While the name Emmily has experienced periods of popularity and decline throughout history, it has remained a beloved choice for parents seeking a name with a rich cultural heritage and a sense of strength and determination.
People
Emmily + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emmily 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
Emmily: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emmily?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 939 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emmily 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 365,021 US residents.
Is Emmily a common name?
We classify Emmily as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 961 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emmily most popular?
The single biggest year for Emmily was 2008, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emmily is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emmily in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 905 people with the name Emmily, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,369 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 Emmily 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 Emmily?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emmily appears almost entirely female. Of the 903 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Emmily?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmily is White at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (40.2%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Emmily most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emmily in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.5% (412 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 Emmily in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emmily a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emmily 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 Emmily still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emmily 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 Emmily 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 Emmily?
Find out how many people have the name Emmily on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.