Head to head · Girls' names
Emilia vs Willow
#45 vs #44 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Willow is a whisker ahead (#44 vs #45 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. 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
On the charts, Willow leads 4 measures of 6; Emilia 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: Emilia #601, Willow — — Emilia higher
- 1890s: Emilia #605, Willow #1338 — Emilia higher
- 1900s: Emilia #571, Willow #1714 — Emilia higher
- 1910s: Emilia #635, Willow #2167 — Emilia higher
- 1920s: Emilia #660, Willow #1709 — Emilia higher
- 1930s: Emilia #776, Willow #1746 — Emilia higher
- 1940s: Emilia #976, Willow #2231 — Emilia higher
- 1950s: Emilia #1216, Willow #3164 — Emilia higher
- 1960s: Emilia #1304, Willow #3565 — Emilia higher
- 1970s: Emilia #1452, Willow #1964 — Emilia higher
- 1980s: Emilia #1088, Willow #2920 — Emilia higher
- 1990s: Emilia #900, Willow #1820 — Emilia higher
- 2000s: Emilia #484, Willow #520 — Emilia higher
- 2010s: Emilia #174, Willow #134 — Willow higher
- 2020s: Emilia #43, Willow #42 — Willow higher
Emilia stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Willow has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Emilia | Willow |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #601 | — |
| 1890s | #605 | #1338 |
| 1900s | #571 | #1714 |
| 1910s | #635 | #2167 |
| 1920s | #660 | #1709 |
| 1930s | #776 | #1746 |
| 1940s | #976 | #2231 |
| 1950s | #1216 | #3164 |
| 1960s | #1304 | #3565 |
| 1970s | #1452 | #1964 |
| 1980s | #1088 | #2920 |
| 1990s | #900 | #1820 |
| 2000s | #484 | #520 |
| 2010s | #174 | #134 |
| 2020s | #43 | #42 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Emilia
- Canada#40
- England & Wales#45
- Scotland#62
Willow
- England & Wales#21
- Scotland#27
- Canada#67
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Emilia
Traditionally linked to Latin aemulus, "rival" or "striving to equal"
Emilia is the feminine of the Roman family name Aemilius. The usual reading connects it to Latin aemulus, "rival, emulating." But Roman family names of that age often came from Etruscan, and a good number of scholars treat Aemilius as one of those — old, inherited, and not translatable. Worth knowing too that Emilia and Amelia are not the same name at root: Amelia descends from Germanic Amalia, from amal, "work." The two have blurred together in English, but they arrived from different directions.
Aemilius → Aemilia → Emilia → Emily
How it traveled
The name begins as Aemilia, the feminine of Aemilius, one of the patrician family names of the Roman Republic. In the second century BC an Aemilius laid the great road north from Rimini, and the region of Emilia-Romagna carries that name to this day.
Willow
the willow tree
Straight from Old English welig, the name of the tree, cognate with Middle Dutch wilghe. The word came first; the name borrowed it.
welig (Old English) → wilwe (Middle English) → willow → Willow
How it traveled
The word traveled quietly through English on its own — welig in Old English, wilwe in Middle English, willow by the time it settled — naming the tree whose whippy shoots went into baskets, hurdles and, later, cricket bats. It came into use as a personal name in the same wave that gave English speakers Ivy, Hazel and Olive, when plant words were being lifted into the christening register.
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
Emilia
eh-MEE-lee-uh
Four syllables, stress on the second. Many American speakers say uh-MEE-lee-uh, which sounds almost identical to Amelia. In Italian and Spanish the ending compresses to eh-MEE-lyah, and Polish speakers say it much the same way.
- Emi — Informal and the most direct shortening; also spelled Emmy or Emmie.
- Mila — Taken from the middle of the name; widely used as an independent given name in its own right.
- Emma — Used informally within families, though it is a separate, long-established given name elsewhere.
- Millie — Informal; shared with Amelia, Camilla and Millicent, so it does not point back to one full name.
- Also Lia.
Willow
WIL-oh
Said exactly like the tree, stress on the first syllable. There is no competing pronunciation in English.
- Will — The usual informal shortening; also long established on its own as a short form of William, so it reads as unisex.
- Willo — An affectionate respelling used mostly within families and in writing rather than as a legal name.
- Willa — Sometimes used as a pet form, though it is a name in its own right, historically a short form of Wilhelmina.
Who has carried each name
Emilia
Emilia Clarke (b. 1986) — Game of Thrones' Daenerys Targaryen
Emilia Jones (b. 2002) — Starred in CODA, the Oscar Best Picture winner
Willow
Willow Smith (b. 2000) — "Whip My Hair" singer, daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
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 Emilia if you want…
- a name with more sound in itEmilia runs 4 syllables, Willow 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Emi, Mila and Emma
- a long American recordEmilia was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Willow if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesWillow is 2 syllables to Emilia's 4
- a newer arrivalWillow entered the US charts in 1890
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
Emilia
Strengths
- Spelled identically in Italian, Spanish and Polish, so relatives in several languages can read it without adjustment.
- A documented written record stretching from Republican Rome through Boccaccio and Shakespeare to the present day, with no long gaps.
- Ready-made short forms already in wide use — Emi, Mila, Millie, Lia — so nothing has to be invented.
To consider
- Amelia and Emily are both common, and all three sound close. Expect to spell Emilia out fairly often, and to hear it read back as Amelia.
- Its rise here is recent, so most American Emilias are still young children rather than adults — the name reads as current rather than inherited.
- Mila and Emma, two of its natural short forms, are established names on their own, so a child may meet classmates who carry them in full.
Willow
Strengths
- The spelling is the ordinary English word, so it rarely needs repeating and almost never gets written down wrong.
- Pronunciation is fixed by the word itself — anyone reading it aloud for the first time gets it right.
- In active use across the English-speaking world, charting in England and Wales, Scotland and Canada as well as the United States.
To consider
- Almost everyone carrying this name right now is a child. It has little adult track record yet, so it can be hard to picture on a business card.
- It belongs to a crowded field of one-word nature names, and may be grouped with them in conversation even where no other Willow is nearby.
- The weeping willow has an old association with grief in English literature — Desdemona's song, the tree over Ophelia's brook. Most people never make the link; a few will.
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 Emilia and Willow 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
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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
- The steadiest names in America
- Six-letter names in current use
- all guides
Every list here names both Emilia and Willow — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Emilia or Willow — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Emilia or Willow?
- Willow, in 2025: Willow ranked #44 with 4,763 babies; Emilia ranked #45 with 4,677 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Emilia or Willow?
- Willow. Over the last five years Emilia moved down 4 places; Willow moved up 4 places.
- Which is the older name, Emilia or Willow?
- Emilia was already in use when US records began in 1880; Willow entered the US charts in 1890. On the American record, Emilia is the older name.
- How many people are named Emilia and Willow?
- About 65,000 people named Emilia are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 64,000 people named Willow are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Emilias or Willows in the classroom?
- Emilia will almost certainly be the only one in school. Willow 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
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