Emili
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "industrious, striving".
Name Census estimates that about 1,846 living Americans carry the first name Emili. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Emili today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emili births was 2006 (112 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emili. 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 Emili with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 185,674 Americans
Peak year
2006
112 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,576
Tracked since 1974
Census
Emili in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,902 people with the first name Emili, which placed it at #7,830 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
#7,830
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,902 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emili
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emili is White at 45.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (45.2%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Emili 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 Emili at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.6% · 868
- Hispanic or Latino45.2% · 859
- Two or more races3.7% · 71
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 54
- Black or African American2.3% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 7
Popularity
Emili: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emili 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 856 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
Emili 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 Emili during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emilis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Emili, while Oklahoma, Ohio, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emili
The name Emili has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the Roman family name Aemilius. The Aemilii were an ancient patrician family in Rome, tracing their roots back to the founding of the city. The name is believed to have originated from the Latin word "aemulus," meaning "rival" or "striving."
In ancient Rome, the Aemilii family produced several notable figures, including the military leader Lucius Aemilius Paullus, who defeated the Macedonian King Perseus in 168 BCE. Another prominent member was the philosopher and poet Quintus Aemilius, who lived during the 1st century BCE.
The name Emili gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions influenced by Latin culture and the Roman Catholic Church. It was often used as a feminine form of the male name Aemilius or Emilius.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Emili can be found in the 12th century. Emili de Lauzon was a French noblewoman and the wife of Hugues de Lauzon, a prominent figure in the Crusades.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Emili. In the 16th century, Emili Giudice was an Italian composer and lutenist known for her musical contributions during the Renaissance period (1500-1568).
In the 18th century, Emili Plater was a Polish-Lithuanian noble and military leader who played a significant role in the Kościuszko Uprising against Imperial Russia (1776-1831).
During the 19th century, Emili Rathou was a French artist and painter renowned for her portraits and landscapes (1808-1890).
In the 20th century, Emili Ardolino was an American choreographer and film director best known for her work on movies like "Dirty Dancing" and "Three Men and a Little Lady" (1942-1993).
Another notable figure was Emili Ntamatungiro, a Burundian politician and activist who fought for women's rights and democracy in her country (1912-2008).
People
Emili + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emili 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
Emili: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emili?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,846 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emili 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 185,674 US residents.
Is Emili a common name?
We classify Emili as "Rare". It ranks above 93.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,888 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emili most popular?
The single biggest year for Emili was 2006, when 112 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emili 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 Emili in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,902 people with the name Emili, or 0.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,830 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 Emili 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 Emili?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emili leans strongly female. 1,863 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 39 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Emili?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emili is White at 45.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (45.2%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Emili most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emili in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.6% (868 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 Emili in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emili a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emili 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 Emili still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emili 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 Emili 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 Emili?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.