Emmie
A feminine name derived from Emily, of Germanic origin meaning "industrious" or "hard-working".
Name Census estimates that about 7,051 living Americans carry the first name Emmie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Emmie today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Emmie births was 2018 (509 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Emmie. 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 Emmie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Emmie is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
7.1K
~ 1 in 48,611 Americans
Peak year
2018
509 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#735
Tracked since 1880
Census
Emmie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,222 people with the first name Emmie, which placed it at #3,794 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
#3,794
National first-name rank
People counted
5.2K
5,222 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Emmie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmie is White at 71.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%). 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 Emmie 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 Emmie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.3% · 3,725
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 653
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 303
- Black or African American5.3% · 276
- Two or more races4.5% · 234
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 31
Popularity
Emmie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Emmie 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 2,992 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Emmie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Emmie 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 Emmie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Emmies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Emmie, while North Dakota, Nevada, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 163 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Emmie
The name Emmie is a diminutive form of the feminine name Emma, which has its origins in the Germanic language. Emma is derived from the ancient Germanic word "erman," meaning whole or universal. The name Emmie likely emerged in the Middle Ages as a pet form or nickname for Emma.
In the Middle Ages, the name Emma was particularly popular among the Germanic people, including the Franks, Saxons, and Normans. It was later adopted by the English and other European cultures. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Emma dates back to the 11th century, when it was borne by Emma of Normandy, the queen consort of England from 1002 to 1016.
The name Emmie gained popularity in the 19th century, particularly in English-speaking countries. One notable bearer of the name was Emmie Sewell (1846-1939), an American author and poet. Another was Emmie Conlon (1878-1962), an English actress and singer who performed in musical comedies and pantomimes.
In the early 20th century, Emmie Bulcroft (1890-1976) was a prominent British suffragette and activist for women's rights. She was involved in the Women's Social and Political Union and participated in several protests and demonstrations.
Another historical figure named Emmie was Emmie Barnes (1901-1976), an American businesswoman and author. She founded the Emmie Barnes Organization, which aimed to help homemakers organize their households and manage their time effectively.
In the world of sports, Emmie Studenny (1912-2007) was a Czech tennis player who won several national and international championships in the 1930s and 1940s.
While the name Emmie has its roots in the Germanic language and was particularly popular in the Middle Ages, it has since been embraced by various cultures and has been borne by notable individuals across different fields throughout history.
People
Emmie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Emmie 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
Emmie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emmie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,051 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Emmie 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 48,611 US residents.
Is Emmie a common name?
We classify Emmie as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,978 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Emmie most popular?
The single biggest year for Emmie was 2018, when 509 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Emmie is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Emmie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,222 people with the name Emmie, or 1.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,794 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 Emmie 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 Emmie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Emmie appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,227 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Emmie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Emmie is White at 71.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%). 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 Emmie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Emmie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.3% (3,725 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 Emmie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Emmie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Emmie 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 Emmie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Emmie 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 Emmie 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 named Emmie?
Find out how many people share the name Emmie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.