Head to head · Girls' names
Amelia vs Emma
#4 vs #3 in 2025 · both Germanic roots
Emma is a whisker ahead (#3 vs #4 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Emma is stepping back from its peak, Amelia is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Amelia has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Emma leads 4 measures of 6; Amelia leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Amelia #100, Emma #3 — Emma higher
- 1890s: Amelia #123, Emma #9 — Emma higher
- 1900s: Amelia #154, Emma #24 — Emma higher
- 1910s: Amelia #168, Emma #40 — Emma higher
- 1920s: Amelia #215, Emma #57 — Emma higher
- 1930s: Amelia #254, Emma #83 — Emma higher
- 1940s: Amelia #307, Emma #121 — Emma higher
- 1950s: Amelia #382, Emma #212 — Emma higher
- 1960s: Amelia #439, Emma #359 — Emma higher
- 1970s: Amelia #399, Emma #433 — Amelia higher
- 1980s: Amelia #264, Emma #293 — Amelia higher
- 1990s: Amelia #218, Emma #71 — Emma higher
- 2000s: Amelia #112, Emma #5 — Emma higher
- 2010s: Amelia #17, Emma #2 — Emma higher
- 2020s: Amelia #4, Emma #2 — Emma higher
Emma stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Emma has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Amelia | Emma |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #100 | #3 |
| 1890s | #123 | #9 |
| 1900s | #154 | #24 |
| 1910s | #168 | #40 |
| 1920s | #215 | #57 |
| 1930s | #254 | #83 |
| 1940s | #307 | #121 |
| 1950s | #382 | #212 |
| 1960s | #439 | #359 |
| 1970s | #399 | #433 |
| 1980s | #264 | #293 |
| 1990s | #218 | #71 |
| 2000s | #112 | #5 |
| 2010s | #17 | #2 |
| 2020s | #4 | #2 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Amelia
- England & Wales#2
- Scotland#4
- Canada#4
Emma
- Canada#3
- France#7
- England & Wales#69
- Scotland#94
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Amelia
From the Germanic element amal, 'work' or 'labor'
The one real tangle is that Amelia has been used interchangeably with the Latin Aemilia (the source of Emilia and Emily), which comes from an entirely different root. The two names have shared spellings and pronunciations for centuries, but their origins are separate.
Amal (Germanic name element) → Amalia → Amelia
How it traveled
The root is the Germanic amal, 'work', an element that appears in the name of the Amal dynasty of Ostrogothic kings and in medieval names such as Amalberga and Amalia. Amalia traveled through German-speaking Europe and reached Britain with the Hanoverians in the eighteenth century, where it settled into the English spelling Amelia.
Emma
whole, universal
Emma began as a short form of longer Germanic names built on the element ermin or irmin, meaning whole or universal — names like Ermengard and Irmingard. The short form outlived nearly all of them.
Irmin- (Germanic name element) → Ermengard / Irmingard → Emma
How it traveled
The name is Germanic, born as a pet form of the long Ermin- and Irmin- compounds used in medieval Frankish and German families. It reached England through Emma of Normandy, who was queen twice over in the eleventh century — first as wife of Æthelred, then of Cnut — and the name settled into English use behind her.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Amelia
uh-MEEL-yuh
Also said in four syllables, uh-MEE-lee-uh. Both are standard in American English and neither needs correcting; the four-syllable version is a little more common in British use.
- Millie — The most-used short form in both the US and Britain; also a given name in its own right, historically from Millicent and Mildred.
- Amy — The traditional English clipping, and long established as an independent name, which means an adult Amelia can use it formally.
- Mia — Taken from the middle of the name rather than the front; widely used on its own as a given name too.
- Lia — Informal, mostly within families; more common where the Italian and Spanish Amalia is the parent form.
- Also Mel.
Emma
EM-uh
Said the same way in English, French and German, with only a slight difference in how the final vowel is colored. Practically nobody mispronounces it.
- Em — The oldest and plainest short form, used informally in English for centuries.
- Emmy — Informal; also given as a name in its own right, and shared as a nickname with Emily and Emmeline.
- Emmie — A spelling variant of Emmy, more often written than spoken.
- Ems — Casual and modern, mostly used between friends rather than by family.
Who has carried each name
Amelia
Amelia Earhart (b. 1897) — First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
Amelia Bloomer (b. 1818) — Suffragist whose dress-reform trousers were nicknamed "bloomers" after her
Emma
Emma Stone (b. 1988) — Two-time Oscar winner (La La Land, Poor Things)
Emma Watson (b. 1990) — Harry Potter's Hermione and a UN Women advocate
Emma Thompson (b. 1959) — The only person with Oscars for both acting and screenwriting
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Amelia if you want…
- a name with more sound in itAmelia runs 3 syllables, Emma 2
- a name that feels very nowAmelia is climbing the charts fast
Choose Emma if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesEmma is 2 syllables to Amelia's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooEmma is on the national lists of Canada, France, England & Wales and Scotland
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 63% for Amelia
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Amelia
Strengths
- On American records since the earliest national name counts, so it has never needed reviving — the current wave is a return, not an invention.
- Three settled short forms already in general use — Millie, Amy, Mia — so a bearer can pick her own level of formality without explaining it.
- Charts independently in England and Wales, Scotland and Canada, and travels as Amélie, Amalia, Amalie and Amália across the Continent.
To consider
- It is genuinely widespread at the moment. Expect another Amelia in the year group, and expect Emilia, Amelie and Emily in the same room.
- The two names have been blurred for centuries, so she will be written down as Emilia now and then, and asked which one she is.
- Because the wave is recent, most Amelias in the US today are children and teenagers; the name will read as young for a long while yet.
Emma
Strengths
- A spelling everyone already knows — no repeating it over the phone, no correcting it on forms.
- Works unchanged in French, German and Italian, and currently charts in Canada, France, England & Wales and Scotland.
- A documented record in England going back to the eleventh century, so it reads as old rather than of-the-moment.
To consider
- It is one of the most-used girls' names in the country, so an Emma is likely to share her name at some point in school or in a workplace.
- The bulk of Emmas alive today are young adults, which for now gives the name a distinct generational feel — though the medieval and Victorian layers sit underneath it.
- Emmy is shared territory with Emily, Emmeline and Emerson, and the two are sometimes confused in speech.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Amelia
63%chance Amelia feels dated by 2040
Amelia is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Emma
12%chance Emma feels dated by 2040
Emma has held the top-100 across 10 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Amelia and Emma in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Amelia and Emma?
Put both to the vote.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- all guides
Every list here names both Amelia and Emma — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Amelia or Emma — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Amelia or Emma?
- Emma, in 2025: Emma ranked #3 with 12,754 babies; Amelia ranked #4 with 12,699 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Amelia or Emma?
- Amelia. Over the last five years Amelia moved up 2 places; Emma moved down 1 place.
- Which is the older name, Amelia or Emma?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Amelia and Emma?
- About 244,000 people named Amelia are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 573,000 people named Emma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Amelias or Emmas in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 5 classrooms will have a child named Amelia. Roughly 1 in 5 classrooms will have a child named Emma.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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