Emmette
A feminine variant of the masculine name "Emmett", of Germanic origin meaning "universal" or "truth".
Name Census estimates that about 378 living Americans carry the first name Emmette. It is a predominantly male name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Emmette today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emmette births was 1918 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emmette. 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
378
~ 1 in 906,758 Americans
Peak year
1918
21 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,033
Tracked since 1912
Census
Emmette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 404 people with the first name Emmette, which placed it at #24,004 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
#24,004
National first-name rank
People counted
404
404 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emmette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmette is White at 61.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.3%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Emmette 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 Emmette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.4% · 248
- Black or African American24.3% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 32
- Two or more races3.5% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Emmette
Out of the 819 babies given the name Emmette since 1880, 99.1% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Emmette as a male name
- Ranked #10,033 in 2023
- 7 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1918 (21 births)
Emmette as a female name
- Ranked #12,587 in 2021
- 7 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2021 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emmette leans strongly male. 368 people counted with this name were male (91.5%), compared with 34 female bearers (8.5%).
Popularity
Emmette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emmette from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 137 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emmette 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 Emmette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emmettes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Emmette
The name Emmette is believed to have originated as a variant of the French masculine name Emmet, which is derived from the Germanic name Emmerich or Emmerich. The name Emmerich is composed of two elements: "ermen," meaning "whole" or "universal," and "ric," meaning "ruler" or "power." This suggests that the name Emmette may have been associated with strength, leadership, and authority.
Emmette can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and it was likely used in various regions of Europe where French and Germanic influences intersected. While the name's precise origins are uncertain, it is thought to have been prevalent in areas such as modern-day France, Germany, and parts of the Low Countries.
In terms of historical references, the name Emmette or its variants do not appear to have been prominently featured in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. However, there are notable individuals throughout history who have borne this name or its variations.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Emmette is Emmette Beaugrand (1852-1904), a Canadian journalist and politician who served as the mayor of Montreal from 1885 to 1887. Another individual of note is Emmette Redford (1905-1980), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 37th Governor of West Virginia from 1965 to 1969.
In the realm of literature, Emmette Herring (1901-1982) was an American author and poet who published several works, including "Lyric South" and "The Bright Sill." Additionally, Emmette Tokayer (1933-2018) was an American author and historian who wrote extensively about the Holocaust and Jewish history.
In the field of sports, Emmette Ashford (1914-1980) was an American umpire who worked in Major League Baseball from 1966 to 1970, becoming one of the first African American umpires in the league.
These individuals, spanning various professions and time periods, serve as examples of the historical presence and use of the name Emmette, reflecting its enduring legacy across different cultures and eras.
People
Emmette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emmette 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
Emmette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emmette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 378 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emmette 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 906,758 US residents.
Is Emmette a common name?
We classify Emmette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 819 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emmette most popular?
The single biggest year for Emmette was 1918, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emmette is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emmette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 404 people with the name Emmette, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,004 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 Emmette 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 Emmette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emmette leans strongly male. 368 people counted with this name were male (91.5%), compared with 34 female bearers (8.5%). 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 Emmette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmette is White at 61.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.3%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Emmette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emmette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.4% (248 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 Emmette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emmette a male name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Emmette 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 Emmette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emmette 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 Emmette 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 have Emmette as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Emmette, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.