Head to head · Girls' names
Ella vs Emily
#29 vs #34 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Ella is a whisker ahead (#29 vs #34 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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
The tape is even: Ella and Emily each lead 2 measures of 6.
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: Ella #17, Emily #91 — Ella higher
- 1890s: Ella #32, Emily #93 — Ella higher
- 1900s: Ella #50, Emily #101 — Ella higher
- 1910s: Ella #75, Emily #103 — Ella higher
- 1920s: Ella #95, Emily #136 — Ella higher
- 1930s: Ella #121, Emily #166 — Ella higher
- 1940s: Ella #162, Emily #178 — Ella higher
- 1950s: Ella #255, Emily #226 — Emily higher
- 1960s: Ella #435, Emily #246 — Emily higher
- 1970s: Ella #743, Emily #84 — Emily higher
- 1980s: Ella #985, Emily #23 — Emily higher
- 1990s: Ella #659, Emily #4 — Emily higher
- 2000s: Ella #72, Emily #2 — Emily higher
- 2010s: Ella #15, Emily #9 — Emily higher
- 2020s: Ella #25, Emily #22 — Emily higher
Emily stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Emily has held the lead since the 1950s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Ella | Emily |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #17 | #91 |
| 1890s | #32 | #93 |
| 1900s | #50 | #101 |
| 1910s | #75 | #103 |
| 1920s | #95 | #136 |
| 1930s | #121 | #166 |
| 1940s | #162 | #178 |
| 1950s | #255 | #226 |
| 1960s | #435 | #246 |
| 1970s | #743 | #84 |
| 1980s | #985 | #23 |
| 1990s | #659 | #4 |
| 2000s | #72 | #2 |
| 2010s | #15 | #9 |
| 2020s | #25 | #22 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Ella
- Scotland#14
- Canada#26
- England & Wales#39
- France#65
Emily
- Scotland#6
- England & Wales#34
- Canada#36
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Ella
All, complete — or simply the end of a longer name
Two accounts compete. One takes it from a Germanic name brought to England by the Normans, built on a word meaning all or complete. The other treats it as the tail end of names like Isabella and Gabriella, cut loose and used alone — which certainly happened, whatever the older history. Both are true of different bearers.
Alia → Ella
How it traveled
One Ella won an amateur night at a Harlem theater she had entered as a dancer — lost her nerve when she saw the act before her, sang instead, and was still singing sixty years later, with a range and an ear that other musicians describe in terms usually reserved for instruments. The other never performed at all.
Emily
Usually given as "rival" or "emulating", from Latin aemulus
Emily descends from Aemilia, feminine of the Roman family name Aemilius. The standard reading links that name to Latin aemulus, "rival, striving to equal". But the origins of old Roman gens names are often lost, and some scholars connect Aemilius instead to aemulari in the sense of "eager, industrious", or leave it unexplained. A separate point worth knowing: Emily is not related to Amelia, which comes from the Germanic element amal, "work" — the two names simply grew to sound alike.
Aemilius → Aemilia → Emilia → Emelye → Emily
How it traveled
The name begins with the Aemilii, one of the old patrician families of Rome, whose women were all called Aemilia. Through Italian the name became Emilia, and Boccaccio gave it to a character in his Teseida; Chaucer borrowed the story for The Knight's Tale and wrote her name as Emelye.
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
Ella
EL-uh
Two syllables, stress at the front. Said the same way in every language that uses it.
- Ellie — The name softened, which for many bearers becomes the everyday form.
- El — The single syllable, plain and quick.
Emily
EM-i-lee
Stress on the first syllable. The middle syllable often reduces in fast American speech, so it can land closer to EM-uh-lee or even EM-lee — both pass without comment.
- Em — The default informal shortening among friends and family; rarely registered as a given name on its own.
- Emmy — Common childhood form, also spelled Emmie; used as a standalone given name in Scandinavia.
- Millie — Taken from the middle of the name; more often heard as a short form of Millicent or Amelia, and independently popular in Britain.
- Emms — Casual, mostly among peers rather than adults.
Who has carried each name
Ella
Ella Fitzgerald (b. 1917) — The "First Lady of Song" with 13 Grammys
Ella Baker (b. 1903) — Master strategist of the civil rights movement
Ella Purnell (b. 1996) — Star of Fallout and Yellowjackets
Emily
Emily Dickinson (b. 1830) — Reclusive poet now ranked among America's greatest
Emily Brontë (b. 1818) — Wrote Wuthering Heights
Emily Blunt (b. 1983) — Star of A Quiet Place and Oppenheimer
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 Ella if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesElla is 2 syllables to Emily's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooElla is on the national lists of Scotland, Canada, England & Wales and France
Choose Emily if you want…
- a name with more sound in itEmily runs 3 syllables, Ella 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Em, Emmy and Millie
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
Ella
Strengths
- It is short, soft and easy for a small child to say about herself.
- It is spelled identically across most of Europe and read correctly everywhere.
- It sits inside several longer names, so a child can grow into a formal version if she wants one.
To consider
- It is currently very well used, so she is unlikely to be the only one.
- Ella, Ellie and Bella are close enough to be swapped constantly in a classroom.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though it belongs overwhelmingly to the girls.
Emily
Strengths
- A spelling nearly everyone in the English-speaking world already knows; it needs no explanation over the phone.
- Charts in Scotland, England and Wales, and Canada as well as the US, so it crosses borders without becoming a different name.
- Long-established short forms — Em, Emmy, Millie — meaning the name can be dressed up or down at any age.
To consider
- It sits very close to Emma, Emilia and Amelia, all in wide use. Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections, and the occasional letter addressed to the wrong one.
- There is a large adult generation of Emilys, so a child may share the name with teachers and colleagues more often than with classmates.
- Émilie, Emilie and Emely are all live spellings elsewhere, so people will sometimes ask which one you mean before writing it down.
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 Ella and Emily 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 Ella and Emily?
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
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- 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 Ella and Emily — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Ella or Emily — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Ella or Emily?
- Ella, in 2025: Ella ranked #29 with 5,831 babies; Emily ranked #34 with 5,451 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Ella or Emily?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Ella moved down 14 places; Emily moved down 16 places.
- Which is the older name, Ella or Emily?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Ella and Emily?
- About 227,000 people named Ella are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 817,000 people named Emily are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Ellas or Emilys in the classroom?
- Ella will almost certainly be the only one in school. Emily will almost certainly be the only one in school.
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
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Ella, Emily and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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