Head to head · Girls' names
Dallas vs Emberly
#686 vs #688 in 2025
Dallas is a whisker ahead (#686 vs #688 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Dallas is holding its place on the charts, Emberly is stepping back from its peak.
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, Dallas leads 4 measures of 6; Emberly 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
- 1890s: Dallas #1264, Emberly — — Dallas higher
- 1900s: Dallas #1287, Emberly — — Dallas higher
- 1910s: Dallas #1235, Emberly — — Dallas higher
- 1920s: Dallas #1283, Emberly — — Dallas higher
- 1930s: Dallas #1332, Emberly — — Dallas higher
- 1940s: Dallas #1570, Emberly — — Dallas higher
- 1950s: Dallas #1725, Emberly — — Dallas higher
- 1960s: Dallas #2287, Emberly — — Dallas higher
- 1970s: Dallas #1792, Emberly — — Dallas higher
- 1980s: Dallas #1318, Emberly #8410 — Dallas higher
- 1990s: Dallas #804, Emberly #9949 — Dallas higher
- 2000s: Dallas #1144, Emberly #6865 — Dallas higher
- 2010s: Dallas #724, Emberly #1749 — Dallas higher
- 2020s: Dallas #645, Emberly #612 — Emberly higher
Dallas stood higher in 13 of 14 decades; Emberly took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Dallas | Emberly |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1264 | — |
| 1900s | #1287 | — |
| 1910s | #1235 | — |
| 1920s | #1283 | — |
| 1930s | #1332 | — |
| 1940s | #1570 | — |
| 1950s | #1725 | — |
| 1960s | #2287 | — |
| 1970s | #1792 | — |
| 1980s | #1318 | #8410 |
| 1990s | #804 | #9949 |
| 2000s | #1144 | #6865 |
| 2010s | #724 | #1749 |
| 2020s | #645 | #612 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Dallas
most likely 'meadow dwelling' or 'meadow by the waterfall'
The Scottish place name behind it is read two ways. One reading takes it from Brythonic or Pictish elements meaning roughly 'meadow' and 'dwelling'; the other from Gaelic dail ('meadow, haugh') with eas ('waterfall'). Both point at low green ground beside water, which is why the two readings sit together comfortably rather than canceling each other out.
Dallas (lands in Moray, Scotland) → Dolays (medieval Scottish surname) → Dallas (Scottish surname) → Dallas (given name)
How it traveled
The lands of Dallas lie in Moray, and by the medieval period a family had taken their name from them, appearing in Scottish records in forms such as Dolays before settling into the modern spelling. Emigration carried the surname to North America, where — as happened to Scottish surnames generally — it began to be handed out as a first name.
Emberly
Either 'ember', the glowing coal, or the English surname and place name Emberley/Amberley, whose ending means 'woodland clearing'
Two serious readings sit behind the same spelling. The English word ember descends from Old English æmerge, the last live coals of a fire. Separately, Emberley is a real English surname, kin to Amberley, a Sussex village name whose second element is Old English leah, 'woodland clearing' — the same ending buried in Kimberly and Beverly. Which road the modern American name actually took was never written down, and both remain fair answers.
How it traveled
Emberly is a recent American name whose parts are much older than it is. The ending -ly comes into given names through English surnames and place names built on Old English leah, a clearing in woodland — the route that produced Kimberly and Beverly, and that put Emberley on English parish records as a family name.
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
Dallas
DAL-us
Stress on the first syllable. The second is an unstressed 'us' or 'is' depending on region; both are ordinary and neither needs correcting.
- Dal — The usual clipped form, informal and mostly spoken rather than written.
- Dally — An affectionate family form, used more with small children than with adults.
Emberly
EM-ber-lee
Stress on the first syllable, the other two even and unhurried. There is one settled pronunciation, and the spelling gives it away on sight.
- Em — The everyday short form; also the standard short form of Emma, Emily and Emmeline, so it arrives already familiar to most people.
- Ember — Informal at home, and independently in use as a given name in its own right in the US, which makes it a workable shorter formal option.
- Emmy — Affectionate and mostly domestic; also a standalone given name, spelled Emmy or Emmie.
- Berly — Rarer, family-only, following the same pattern by which Kimberly yields Berly.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Dallas if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesDallas is 2 syllables to Emberly's 3
Choose Emberly if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsEmberly is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itEmberly runs 3 syllables, Dallas 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Em, Ember and Emmy
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
Dallas
Strengths
- Unbroken presence in American records since the earliest years of national name statistics — long familiarity, without ever having been a crowd.
- A spelling nobody has to be told twice: the city has taught it to every English speaker.
- Given to both boys and girls, so the name itself needs no adjustment either way.
To consider
- The place association is unavoidable. Most people will think of the Texas city, the football team, or the television series that ran from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, and some will hear the city's link to the Kennedy assassination.
- Strongest in Texas, Georgia and California — inside Texas especially, the name and the city are hard to separate, which may read as local pride or as a lot to carry.
- It leans boy in the records. A girl named Dallas is in a real but smaller group, and may occasionally be assumed a boy on paper before she is met in person.
Emberly
Strengths
- Reads correctly at first glance for English speakers: the -ly ending is already worn smooth by Kimberly, Beverly and Everly.
- Comes with short forms people know without being taught — Em, Emmy, Ember — none of which need explaining.
- Ember works as a shorter form that also stands on its own as a name, so there is a real fallback rather than only a nickname.
To consider
- It will be spelled out often. Emberlee, Emberley, Emberlyn and Amberly all circulate, and over the phone people hear Kimberly or Amberly first.
- The meaning is not settled, and most listeners will hear 'ember' regardless of which origin you prefer — worth knowing if the fire association is not one you want.
- This is a young name. Nearly everyone carrying it is still a child, so there is no adult version of it in most people's experience yet, and it sits audibly within one recent wave of -ly names.
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 Dallas and Emberly 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 Dallas and Emberly?
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.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
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.
Dallas or Emberly — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Dallas or Emberly?
- Dallas, in 2025: Dallas ranked #686 with 413 babies; Emberly ranked #688 with 411 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Dallas or Emberly?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Dallas moved down 54 places; Emberly moved down 134 places.
- Which is the older name, Dallas or Emberly?
- Dallas entered the US charts in 1892; Emberly entered the US charts in 1980. On the American record, Dallas is the older name.
- How many people are named Dallas and Emberly?
- About 14,500 people named Dallas are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 5,500 people named Emberly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Dallass or Emberlys in the classroom?
- Dallas will almost certainly be the only one in school. Emberly will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Dallas, Emberly and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap