Head to head · Girls' names
Emily vs Gianna
#34 vs #33 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Gianna is a whisker ahead (#33 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
On the charts, Emily leads 3 measures of 6; Gianna 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: Emily #91, Gianna — — Emily higher
- 1890s: Emily #93, Gianna — — Emily higher
- 1900s: Emily #101, Gianna — — Emily higher
- 1910s: Emily #103, Gianna — — Emily higher
- 1920s: Emily #136, Gianna — — Emily higher
- 1930s: Emily #166, Gianna — — Emily higher
- 1940s: Emily #178, Gianna — — Emily higher
- 1950s: Emily #226, Gianna #4355 — Emily higher
- 1960s: Emily #246, Gianna #2206 — Emily higher
- 1970s: Emily #84, Gianna #2121 — Emily higher
- 1980s: Emily #23, Gianna #1569 — Emily higher
- 1990s: Emily #4, Gianna #489 — Emily higher
- 2000s: Emily #2, Gianna #132 — Emily higher
- 2010s: Emily #9, Gianna #82 — Emily higher
- 2020s: Emily #22, Gianna #21 — Gianna higher
Emily stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Gianna took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Emily | Gianna |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #91 | — |
| 1890s | #93 | — |
| 1900s | #101 | — |
| 1910s | #103 | — |
| 1920s | #136 | — |
| 1930s | #166 | — |
| 1940s | #178 | — |
| 1950s | #226 | #4355 |
| 1960s | #246 | #2206 |
| 1970s | #84 | #2121 |
| 1980s | #23 | #1569 |
| 1990s | #4 | #489 |
| 2000s | #2 | #132 |
| 2010s | #9 | #82 |
| 2020s | #22 | #21 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Emily
- Scotland#6
- England & Wales#34
- Canada#36
Gianna
- Canada#92
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Gianna
God is gracious
From Hebrew Yochanan, "Yahweh is gracious" — the source of John and all its feminine forms.
Yochanan → Ioanna → Iohanna → Giovanna → Gianna
How it traveled
The root is Hebrew Yochanan, carried into Greek as Ioannes and Ioanna by the translators and writers of the Bible, then into Latin as Iohannes and Iohanna. Italian turned the masculine into Giovanni and the feminine into Giovanna, and everyday speech clipped both: Gianni for men, Gianna for women.
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
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.
Gianna
jee-AH-nuh
Also said JAH-nuh, closer to the Italian, where the i is only there to soften the g. Both are standard in the US; expect to state which one you use.
- Gia — The most common short form, and widely used as a standalone given name in its own right.
- Gigi — Informal and affectionate; also used independently and as a grandmother name in some families.
- Anna — Drawn from the tail of the name; formal enough to stand alone on a document.
- Nina — An informal Italian-style pet form, less common in American use.
Who has carried each name
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
Gianna
No documented entry for Gianna yet.
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 Emily if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooEmily is on the national lists of Scotland, England & Wales and Canada
- a long American recordEmily was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 82% for Gianna
Choose Gianna if you want…
- a newer arrivalGianna entered the US charts in 1951
- a name that feels very nowGianna is stepping back from its peak
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
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.
Gianna
Strengths
- Belongs to one of the oldest continuously used name families in Europe, alongside Jane, Joan, Joanna, Jeanne and Juana.
- Two clear short forms already in general use — Gia and Gigi — plus the full name for formal settings.
- Short, two or three syllables, with no silent letters and no consonant clusters to trip over.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate — jee-AH-nuh and JAH-nuh — and she will likely correct people in both directions for life.
- Spelling is easy to hear wrong: Giana, Jiana, Gianna and Johanna all sound close enough to be guessed at.
- The American wave is very recent, so the name reads as contemporary and its bearers skew strongly toward children rather than adults.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Emily
12%chance Emily feels dated by 2040
Emily has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Gianna
82%chance Gianna feels dated by 2040
Gianna is coming down from a big peak (#13 in 2020). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 Emily and Gianna 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
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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
Every list here names both Emily and Gianna — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Emily or Gianna — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Emily or Gianna?
- Gianna, in 2025: Gianna ranked #33 with 5,634 babies; Emily ranked #34 with 5,451 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Emily or Gianna?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Emily moved down 16 places; Gianna moved down 20 places.
- Which is the older name, Emily or Gianna?
- Emily was already in use when US records began in 1880; Gianna entered the US charts in 1951. On the American record, Emily is the older name.
- How many people are named Emily and Gianna?
- About 817,000 people named Emily are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 109,000 people named Gianna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Emilys or Giannas in the classroom?
- Emily will almost certainly be the only one in school. Gianna 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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