Emalee
Feminine · “Latin”
Emily held the top spot for twelve consecutive years, from 1996 to 2007 — the longest run at number one for an American girls' name in the modern data. A name that common generates spellings, and Emalee is one of dozens.
How old is the name Emalee?
Emalee first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Emalee alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 3,700 people named Emalee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emalee most popular?
Emalee peaked in 2005, reaching #1027 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 6,858 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aemilia to Emalee
The story of Emalee
Sustained runs at the top of the American list are rare. Jennifer held it for fifteen years in the 1970s and 1980s, Mary for decades before the data was reliable, and Emily for twelve from 1996. A name at that level is heard constantly, which produces two effects at once: families who want the sound but not the ubiquity respell it, and families who want distance abandon it. Emily generated Emalee, Emmalee, Emilee, Emileigh and Emalie, all peaking within a few years of the parent's own run. Emalee peaks in 2005, near the end of Emily's twelve years.
Meaningscholars disagree
Latin, probably "rival, striving"
From the Roman family name Aemilius, generally connected to aemulus, a rival, though the derivation is not certain. Emily is separate from Amelia, which is Germanic; the two are constantly confused in English. Emalee is an American respelling with the -alee ending, which reads as a long e; the change carries no meaning.
How the name formed
- Aemilia
- Emily
- Emalee
Related forms: Emily · Emilee · Émilie
Pronouncing Emalee
EM-uh-lee
Three syllables, stress on the first. Emily and Emalee are pronounced identically; the middle vowel is a schwa in both.
Nicknames for Emalee
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1918
- Most girls named
- 2005236 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1027reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- −23.5%13 in 2025, from 17
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Emalee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Emily in English — spelling variant
- Emilee in English — spelling variant
- Émilie in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Michigan.
Emalees among us
people named Emalee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Emalee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Emalee
- #7885
- Emalee on the 2025 chart
- #900
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Emalee went to 13 girls in 2025, but Emmalee is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 60, which makes it the 900th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,985 places above the chart.
- Emmalee47
- Emalee13
About 1 girl in 26,788 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 123,636 for Emalee itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Nyoka test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Emalee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Nyoka climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Nyoka's path sketches the road Emalee is walking now.
Emalee sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Emalee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emalee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Em and Emmy are immediate short forms.
- It is read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- The underlying name has a documented Roman history.
- Emily is the standard spelling and will be substituted constantly.
- The sound was extremely common in the 1990s and 2000s.
- It is routinely confused with Amelia, which is a different name.
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What they receive
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Emalee
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emalees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,700 people named Emalee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Emalee?
- Emalee is one of 2 recorded spellings. Emmalee is the more common one — 47 births in 2025 against 13 for Emalee.
- How popular is the name Emalee in 2025?
- Emalee ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emalee?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Emalee — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emalee with classmates?
- Emalee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emalee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emalee? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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