Emily
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "industrious" or "eager".
Roughly 794,841 people in the United States go by the first name Emily, which ranks #25 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Emily today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emily births was 1999 (26,587 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Susan (778,536).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emily. 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 Emily with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Emily is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,799 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
795K
~ 1 in 431 Americans
Peak year
1999
26,587 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#25
Tracked since 1880
Census
Emily in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 755,529 people with the first name Emily, which placed it at #44 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
#44
National first-name rank
People counted
756K
755,529 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
250.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emily
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emily is White at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Emily 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 Emily at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.6% · 571,238
- Hispanic or Latino15.4% · 116,016
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 30,059
- Two or more races3.1% · 23,777
- Black or African American1.5% · 11,419
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3,020
Gender
Gender distribution for Emily
Out of the 892,769 babies given the name Emily since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Emily as a male name
- Ranked #7,891 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (120 births)
Emily as a female name
- Ranked #25 in 2024
- 5,955 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (26,542 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emily appears almost entirely female. Of the 755,529 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Emily: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emily from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 237,644 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emily 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 Emily during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 0 | 3,368 | 3,368 |
| 1890s | 5 | 5,476 | 5,481 |
| 1900s | 0 | 6,423 | 6,423 |
| 1910s | 17 | 17,069 | 17,086 |
| 1920s | 53 | 18,754 | 18,807 |
| 1930s | 53 | 11,916 | 11,969 |
| 1940s | 33 | 13,409 | 13,442 |
| 1950s | 14 | 12,840 | 12,854 |
| 1960s | 5 | 12,334 | 12,339 |
| 1970s | 148 | 46,843 | 46,991 |
| 1980s | 527 | 131,770 | 132,297 |
| 1990s | 384 | 237,260 | 237,644 |
| 2000s | 393 | 223,755 | 224,148 |
| 2010s | 131 | 117,626 | 117,757 |
| 2020s | 36 | 32,127 | 32,163 |
Geography
Where Emilys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Emily, while Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17,149 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emily
The name Emily has its origins in the ancient Roman Empire. It is derived from the Latin name Aemilia, which was originally a feminine form of the family name Aemilius. The Aemilii were a prominent Roman family that traced its roots back to the founding of Rome.
The name Aemilia was likely derived from the Latin word "aemulus," meaning "rival" or "eager." This suggests that the name may have been associated with ambition, competitiveness, or a desire to excel. The name's transition from Aemilia to Emily occurred through various language shifts and translations over the centuries.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Emily can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Suetonius, who lived from around 69 to 122 AD. He documented the life of a woman named Aemilia Lepida, who was a member of the Aemilian family and lived during the 1st century AD.
During the Middle Ages, the name Emily gained popularity in various parts of Europe, particularly in England and France. One notable figure was Emily of Provence (circa 1180-1213), a French noblewoman who became the queen consort of England through her marriage to King John.
In the 13th century, Emily de Vichy (born around 1220) was a French mystic and anchoress who lived a life of religious devotion and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
The Renaissance period saw the rise of another prominent Emily, Emily of Nassau (1540-1582). She was a Dutch noblewoman and the daughter of William the Silent, a leading figure in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain.
In the literary realm, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was an American poet renowned for her unique style and profound insights. Her works, often characterized by their brevity and depth, have had a lasting impact on the world of poetry.
The name Emily has maintained its popularity throughout history and continues to be a beloved choice for parents worldwide. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Rome, the name has transcended cultural boundaries and taken on various meanings and associations over time.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Emily
People
Emily + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emily 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
Emily: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emily?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 794,841 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emily 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 431 US residents.
Is Emily a common name?
We classify Emily as "Very Common". It ranks above 100% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 892,769 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emily most popular?
The single biggest year for Emily was 1999, when 26,587 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emily is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emily in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 755,529 people with the name Emily, or 250.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44 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 Emily 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 Emily?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emily appears almost entirely female. Of the 755,529 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Emily?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emily is White at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Emily most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emily in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.6% (571,238 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 Emily in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emily a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Emily 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 Emily still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emily 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 Emily 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 are called Emily?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.