Head to head · Girls' names
Emily vs Valentina
#34 vs #35 in 2025
Emily is a whisker ahead (#34 vs #35 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Emily is stepping back from its peak, Valentina is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Valentina has the edge.
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 5 measures of 6; Valentina 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
- 1880s: Emily #91, Valentina — — Emily higher
- 1890s: Emily #93, Valentina #1555 — Emily higher
- 1900s: Emily #101, Valentina #1463 — Emily higher
- 1910s: Emily #103, Valentina #1659 — Emily higher
- 1920s: Emily #136, Valentina #1387 — Emily higher
- 1930s: Emily #166, Valentina #1673 — Emily higher
- 1940s: Emily #178, Valentina #1843 — Emily higher
- 1950s: Emily #226, Valentina #1320 — Emily higher
- 1960s: Emily #246, Valentina #1259 — Emily higher
- 1970s: Emily #84, Valentina #1626 — Emily higher
- 1980s: Emily #23, Valentina #1438 — Emily higher
- 1990s: Emily #4, Valentina #1038 — Emily higher
- 2000s: Emily #2, Valentina #464 — Emily higher
- 2010s: Emily #9, Valentina #118 — Emily higher
- 2020s: Emily #22, Valentina #55 — Emily higher
Emily stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Emily | Valentina |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #91 | — |
| 1890s | #93 | #1555 |
| 1900s | #101 | #1463 |
| 1910s | #103 | #1659 |
| 1920s | #136 | #1387 |
| 1930s | #166 | #1673 |
| 1940s | #178 | #1843 |
| 1950s | #226 | #1320 |
| 1960s | #246 | #1259 |
| 1970s | #84 | #1626 |
| 1980s | #23 | #1438 |
| 1990s | #4 | #1038 |
| 2000s | #2 | #464 |
| 2010s | #9 | #118 |
| 2020s | #22 | #55 |
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
Valentina
- France#77
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.
Valentina
strong, healthy, vigorous
From Latin valens, the present participle of valere, 'to be strong' or 'to be well' — the same root behind English words like valiant and convalesce.
Valens → Valentinus → Valentina
How it traveled
The Roman cognomen Valens gave rise to Valentinus, and Valentina is its feminine form. The masculine line produced Saint Valentine, the third-century Roman martyr whose February feast day later attached itself to courtship, which helped carry the whole family of names through medieval Europe.
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.
Valentina
val-en-TEE-nuh
The stress falls on the third syllable in every language that uses the name. Spanish and Italian speakers give the final vowel a fuller -nah; English speakers usually soften it to -nuh. Both are correct and neither will cause confusion.
- Val — The standard English short form; also used on its own and as a short form of Valerie and Valeria.
- Vale — Common in Spanish-speaking families, said VAH-leh; rarely used by English speakers, who tend to read it as a word.
- Tina — Taken from the end of the name; long established as an independent given name in its own right, and still widely worn by older generations.
- Valen — An informal clipping used mostly within the family.
- Also Vali.
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
Valentina
Valentina Tereshkova (b. 1937) — First woman in space
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 past its most crowded yearsEmily is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesEmily is 3 syllables to Valentina's 4
- 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
Choose Valentina if you want…
- a name on the way upup 38 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itValentina runs 4 syllables, Emily 3
- a newer arrivalValentina entered the US charts in 1897
- a name that feels very nowValentina is climbing the charts fast
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.
Valentina
Strengths
- Spelled and pronounced the same way in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and Russian — one of the few names that needs no adjustment when it crosses a border.
- A documented Latin meaning, 'strong, healthy', with no competing readings.
- Several established short forms already in circulation: Val, Vale and Tina, ranging from crisp to affectionate.
To consider
- It is climbing quickly in the US. A child born now may find the name much more familiar to her classmates by the time she is in high school than it is today.
- The Valentine's Day link is affectionate but permanent, and February brings it up every year — some bearers enjoy this and some tire of it.
- English speakers occasionally reach for Valerie or Valentine on first hearing, so a small correction now and then is likely.
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.
Valentina
58%chance Valentina feels dated by 2040
Valentina is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
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 Valentina 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 Emily and Valentina?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Valentina — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Emily or Valentina — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Emily or Valentina?
- Emily, in 2025: Emily ranked #34 with 5,451 babies; Valentina ranked #35 with 5,354 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Emily or Valentina?
- Valentina. Over the last five years Emily moved down 16 places; Valentina moved up 38 places.
- Which is the older name, Emily or Valentina?
- Emily was already in use when US records began in 1880; Valentina entered the US charts in 1897. On the American record, Emily is the older name.
- How many people are named Emily and Valentina?
- About 817,000 people named Emily are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 63,500 people named Valentina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Emilys or Valentinas in the classroom?
- Emily will almost certainly be the only one in school. Valentina 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
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