Head to head · Girls' names
Charlotte vs Emma
#2 vs #3 in 2025
Charlotte is a whisker ahead (#2 vs #3 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Charlotte is climbing the charts fast, Emma is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote3 votes
Which one would you pick?
3 parents have voted — the split shows after you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Charlotte leads 3 measures of 6; Emma leads 2.
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: Charlotte #92, Emma #3 — Emma higher
- 1890s: Charlotte #102, Emma #9 — Emma higher
- 1900s: Charlotte #106, Emma #24 — Emma higher
- 1910s: Charlotte #85, Emma #40 — Emma higher
- 1920s: Charlotte #77, Emma #57 — Emma higher
- 1930s: Charlotte #70, Emma #83 — Charlotte higher
- 1940s: Charlotte #59, Emma #121 — Charlotte higher
- 1950s: Charlotte #115, Emma #212 — Charlotte higher
- 1960s: Charlotte #155, Emma #359 — Charlotte higher
- 1970s: Charlotte #222, Emma #433 — Charlotte higher
- 1980s: Charlotte #290, Emma #293 — Charlotte higher
- 1990s: Charlotte #293, Emma #71 — Emma higher
- 2000s: Charlotte #159, Emma #5 — Emma higher
- 2010s: Charlotte #15, Emma #2 — Emma higher
- 2020s: Charlotte #3, Emma #2 — Emma higher
Emma stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Emma has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Charlotte | Emma |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #92 | #3 |
| 1890s | #102 | #9 |
| 1900s | #106 | #24 |
| 1910s | #85 | #40 |
| 1920s | #77 | #57 |
| 1930s | #70 | #83 |
| 1940s | #59 | #121 |
| 1950s | #115 | #212 |
| 1960s | #155 | #359 |
| 1970s | #222 | #433 |
| 1980s | #290 | #293 |
| 1990s | #293 | #71 |
| 2000s | #159 | #5 |
| 2010s | #15 | #2 |
| 2020s | #3 | #2 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Charlotte
- Canada#2
- Scotland#14
- England & Wales#23
- France#41
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
Charlotte
Free man, or free — from the Germanic root behind Charles
The root is Old High German karl, 'free man' or simply 'man'. Charlotte carries it through the French diminutive of Charles, so the sense is inherited rather than freshly coined.
Karl → Charles → Charlot → Charlotte
How it traveled
The name begins with Germanic karl, which became Karl and then Charles, borne by Frankish and later French rulers. French speakers made feminine diminutives of it — Charlot for a boy, Charlotte for a girl — and by the seventeenth century Charlotte was established in France.
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
Charlotte
SHAR-lət
Two syllables in English, stress on the first. French speakers say it closer to shar-LOT, with both syllables even and a crisper final t — worth knowing if the name will be used in both languages.
- Lottie — The long-standing English short form, itself given as an independent name in both the Victorian era and again in recent decades.
- Charlie — Informal and widely used; also reaches boys separately through Charles, so it is shared territory.
- Char — Casual, family-and-friends level, usually rhyming with 'shar' rather than 'car'.
- Lotta — Common in Scandinavian and German-speaking usage, where it also stands alone.
- Also Carlotta.
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
Charlotte
Charlotte, Princess of Wales (b. 2015) — Daughter of Prince William and Princess Catherine, third in line to the British throne
Charlotte Brontë (b. 1816) — Wrote Jane Eyre
Charlotte Rampling (b. 1946) — Oscar-nominated British screen icon
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 Charlotte if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Charlotte from Emma.
Choose Emma if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Emma from Charlotte.
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
Charlotte
Strengths
- Spelled one way in English and recognized on sight; almost nobody needs it repeated or clarified.
- Several established short forms with long histories of their own — Lottie, Charlie, Char — so the child has room to choose.
- Works unchanged in French, German and Dutch, and has close cousins in Carlotta and Carlota.
To consider
- It is currently near the very top of the US charts, so a Charlotte may well share a classroom or a soccer team with another one.
- Charlie is shared with boys named Charles, which some families like and others find muddling when nicknames get used at school.
- The French and English pronunciations differ in stress and in the final consonant, worth settling early in a bilingual household.
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.
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 Charlotte 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 Charlotte and Emma?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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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
Every list here names both Charlotte and Emma — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Charlotte or Emma — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Charlotte or Emma?
- Charlotte, in 2025: Charlotte ranked #2 with 13,400 babies; Emma ranked #3 with 12,754 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Charlotte or Emma?
- Charlotte. Over the last five years Charlotte moved up 3 places; Emma moved down 1 place.
- Which is the older name, Charlotte or Emma?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Charlotte and Emma?
- About 327,000 people named Charlotte 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 Charlottes or Emmas in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 5 classrooms will have a child named Charlotte. 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
Keep playing
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