Emmery
Of French origin, a diminutive variant of Amaury, meaning "industrious" or "emery".
Name Census estimates that about 1,079 living Americans carry the first name Emmery. It is a predominantly female name (96.0% of registrations). The average person named Emmery today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emmery births was 2015 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emmery. 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.
Key insights
- • Emmery is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 317,659 Americans
Peak year
2015
72 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,606
Tracked since 1920
Census
Emmery in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 827 people with the first name Emmery, which placed it at #14,280 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
#14,280
National first-name rank
People counted
827
827 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emmery
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmery is White at 67.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.9%) and Black (9.3%). 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 Emmery 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 Emmery at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.4% · 557
- Hispanic or Latino13.9% · 115
- Black or African American9.3% · 77
- Two or more races6.0% · 50
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Emmery
Emmery leans heavily female at 96.0% of total registrations, but 44 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Emmery as a male name
- Ranked #12,812 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (10 births)
Emmery as a female name
- Ranked #2,606 in 2024
- 67 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (71 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emmery leans strongly female. 718 people counted with this name were female (86.1%), compared with 116 male bearers (13.9%).
Popularity
Emmery: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emmery from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 587 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Emmery remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emmery 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 Emmery during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emmerys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Emmery, while South Dakota, Indiana, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emmery
The name Emmery has its roots in the Old French language, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Germanic name Emmerich or Emmerich, which is believed to have originated from the words "amal," meaning "toil" or "labor," and "ric," meaning "powerful" or "ruler."
Emmery was a popular name in medieval France, particularly in the regions of Normandy and Brittany. It was often associated with nobility and those of high social standing. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book, a historic record of landowners commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
During the crusades, the name Emmery gained significance as it was borne by several knights and noblemen who participated in the holy wars. One notable figure was Emmery de Jeures, a French knight who fought valiantly in the Third Crusade under Richard the Lionheart in the late 12th century.
In the 13th century, Saint Emmery of Anchin was a prominent figure in the Catholic Church. He was a Benedictine monk and abbot who was known for his piety and devotion to the monastic life. His legacy contributed to the popularity of the name among religious circles.
The name Emmery also found its way into literary works. One example is the character of Emmery de Bergerac, a fictional knight featured in the novel "The Talisman" by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1825. The book, set during the Third Crusade, portrays Emmery as a brave and chivalrous knight.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Emmery. Emmery de Quincy, born in 1195, was an English nobleman and one of the leading barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Emmery Bégat, born in 1615, was a French sculptor and architect who worked on several notable buildings in Paris during the reign of Louis XIV.
Another notable figure was Emmery de la Croix, born in 1718, a French naval officer and explorer who participated in several expeditions to the West Indies and Central America. In the 19th century, Emmery Desir, born in 1832, was a Haitian politician and writer who served as the president of Haiti from 1888 to 1889.
People
Emmery + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emmery 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
Emmery: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emmery?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,079 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emmery 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 317,659 US residents.
Is Emmery a common name?
We classify Emmery as "Rare". It ranks above 90.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,095 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emmery most popular?
The single biggest year for Emmery was 2015, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emmery is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emmery in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 827 people with the name Emmery, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,280 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 Emmery 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 Emmery?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emmery leans strongly female. 718 people counted with this name were female (86.1%), compared with 116 male bearers (13.9%). 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 Emmery?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmery is White at 67.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.9%) and Black (9.3%). 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 Emmery most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emmery in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.4% (557 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 Emmery in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emmery a female name?
Yes, 96.0% of people registered as Emmery 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 Emmery still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emmery 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 Emmery 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 Emmery?
Find out how many people have the name Emmery on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.