Emperor
One who rules over an empire or imperial domain.
Name Census estimates that about 101 living Americans carry the first name Emperor. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Emperor today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emperor births was 2021 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emperor. 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
101
~ 1 in 3,393,607 Americans
Peak year
2021
15 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,158
Tracked since 2008
Popularity
Emperor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emperor from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 51 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emperor 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 Emperor 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 Emperor
The name Emperor has its origins in the Latin language and can be traced back to ancient Rome. It derives from the Latin word "imperator," which initially referred to a victorious military commander who was granted special powers and authority. The title "imperator" eventually evolved into the imperial title used by the rulers of the Roman Empire.
During the Roman Republic, the title "imperator" was bestowed upon successful generals by their troops or the Senate as a military honorific. However, it was not a permanent title. It was Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who transformed the title into a permanent and hereditary position, marking the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.
The name Emperor has a strong association with power, authority, and sovereignty. In ancient times, emperors were often deified and considered divine rulers, possessing absolute power over their dominions. This concept of imperial rule can be found in various ancient texts and historical records, such as the writings of Roman historians like Suetonius and Tacitus.
One of the earliest and most famous individuals to bear the title of Emperor was Augustus Caesar (63 BC - 14 AD), the first Roman emperor and the founder of the Roman Empire. Other notable Roman emperors include Trajan (53 - 117 AD), known for his military conquests and administrative abilities, and Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180 AD), a philosopher-king renowned for his philosophical writings and Stoic principles.
Outside of the Roman context, the name Emperor has been used by rulers of various empires and dynasties throughout history. For example, Qin Shi Huang (259 - 210 BC) was the first emperor of a unified China and the founder of the Qin Dynasty. Charlemagne (742 - 814 AD), the King of the Franks, was crowned as the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, establishing the Holy Roman Empire.
The Ottoman Empire, which ruled vast territories across Europe, Asia, and Africa for over six centuries, had a long line of sultans who also held the title of Emperor. One of the most famous Ottoman emperors was Suleiman the Magnificent (1494 - 1566), known for his military conquests and the expansion of the Ottoman Empire to its peak.
In more recent history, the name Emperor has been associated with monarchs such as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821), who crowned himself Emperor of the French in 1804, and Pedro II (1825 - 1891), the last Emperor of Brazil, who reigned from 1831 until the abolition of the Brazilian monarchy in 1889.
People
Emperor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emperor 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
Emperor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emperor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emperor 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 3,393,607 US residents.
Is Emperor a common name?
We classify Emperor as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 102 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emperor most popular?
The single biggest year for Emperor was 2021, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emperor is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Emperor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emperor a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emperor 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 Emperor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emperor 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 Emperor 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have Emperor as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.