Emmet
Emmet is an English name derived from the Old French amez, meaning "brave" or "hard worker".
Name Census estimates that about 4,406 living Americans carry the first name Emmet. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Emmet today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emmet births was 2015 (262 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emmet. 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 Emmet with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.4K
~ 1 in 77,793 Americans
Peak year
2015
262 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,591
Tracked since 1880
Census
Emmet in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,989 people with the first name Emmet, which placed it at #4,606 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
#4,606
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
3,989 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emmet
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmet is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Emmet 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 Emmet at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.2% · 3,279
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 261
- Two or more races4.7% · 186
- Black or African American4.2% · 166
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 68
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 29
Popularity
Emmet: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emmet from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,940 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Emmet remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emmet 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 Emmet during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emmets live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Emmet, while Oklahoma, North Dakota, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emmet
The name Emmet has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the word "ama" meaning "labor" or "work." It emerged during the early medieval period, around the 7th to 10th centuries, and was likely used as a descriptive name for someone involved in strenuous or physical labor.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Emmet can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of a great survey commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The Domesday Book mentions an individual named "Emmet" who held lands in Gloucestershire, England.
In the 12th century, an English clergyman named Emmet served as a canon of the Diocese of Lincoln. His name is recorded in various ecclesiastical documents from that era, indicating the continued use of the name during the Middle Ages.
During the 13th century, a notable figure named Emmet de Rydal lived in the Lake District of England. He was a prominent landowner and is mentioned in several historical records related to property transactions and legal disputes of the time.
In the 16th century, a Dutch philosopher and theologian named Emmet van Veldhuizen gained recognition for his writings on Christian humanism. He was born in 1525 and died in 1592, leaving behind a significant body of work that influenced religious thought during the Reformation.
Another historically significant individual with the name Emmet was Emmet Dalton, an American outlaw and member of the infamous Dalton Gang. He was born in 1871 and participated in several high-profile train robberies in the late 19th century before being killed in a shootout with law enforcement in 1892.
Throughout history, the name Emmet has been used across various cultures and regions, though its origins can be traced back to the early English language and its connection to labor and physical work. While not as common as some other names, it has been carried by notable figures in fields ranging from religion and philosophy to outlawry and crime.
People
Emmet + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emmet 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
Emmet: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emmet?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,406 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emmet 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 77,793 US residents.
Is Emmet a common name?
We classify Emmet as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,856 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emmet most popular?
The single biggest year for Emmet was 2015, when 262 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emmet is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emmet in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,989 people with the name Emmet, or 1.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,606 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 Emmet 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 Emmet?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emmet appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,989 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Emmet?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmet is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Emmet most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emmet in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.2% (3,279 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 Emmet in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emmet a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emmet 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 Emmet still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emmet 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 Emmet 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 common is the name Emmet?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.