Embry
Feminine
Embry is given to both — 712 girls and 379 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Embry is an English surname with an Old English name buried in it, and the name has been worn down so far that scholars disagree about which one. It became an American girls' first name in the last decade, part of the movement of short, soft surnames into use for daughters.
How old is the name Embry?
Embry first appears in US birth records in 2003 — 22 years ago. The typical Embry is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Embry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Embry most popular?
Embry peaked in 2018, reaching #2647 nationally. Today it ranks #4987, 2,340 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Eanburh to Embry
The story of Embry
Old English personal names left descendants in surnames long after they stopped being given, and Embry is one of the more obscure of them: recorded in the English west midlands and in Kentucky and Tennessee after emigration, and difficult to trace with confidence in either place. It became a first name in the United States in the twenty-tens, for girls chiefly, alongside Emerson, Emory and Ember, all of which sound alike and have quite different histories.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The surname is generally traced to an Old English personal name in the Amal- or Ean- family, most often Eanburh, a woman's name joining a word for a lamb or a river to one for a fortress. Emmery, from a Germanic name meaning work and power, has also been proposed. Neither is secure and the surname's early forms do not settle it.
How the name formed
- Eanburh
- Embry
Pronouncing Embry
EM-bree
Two syllables, stress in front. There is little room to read it another way.
Nicknames for Embry
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
- 2003
- Most girls named
- 201865 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2647reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- −27.8%26 in 2025, from 36
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.
Embry in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Kentucky, Colorado.
Embrys among us
people named Embry are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 61,818 born in 2025 was named Embry
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Embry
- #4987
- Embry on the 2025 chart
- #929
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Embry went to 26 girls in 2025, but Embri is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 31, which makes it the 929th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,058 places above the chart.
- Embry26
- Embri5
About 1 girl in 51,847 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 61,818 for Embry 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 Dondra test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Embry's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dondra climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dondra's path sketches the road Embry is walking now.
Embry 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
Where Embry is headed
Embry should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Embry beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Embry in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Em works as a short form and is instantly familiar in English.
- It is genuinely uncommon while sounding entirely ordinary.
- Two syllables with the stress in front sit well against most surnames.
- Ember, Emory and Embry are close enough to be substituted in speech constantly.
- Its origin is genuinely unresolved, so answers found online will disagree.
- It reads as a surname to many people, who will ask about the family connection.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Embry
Feminine · #4987 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Embrys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Embry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Embry?
- Embry is the most-used spelling in US records — 26 of the 31 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Embri.
- How popular is the name Embry in 2025?
- Embry ranks #4987 among US girl names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Embry?
- About 1 in every 61,818 US girls born in 2025 was named Embry — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Embry with classmates?
- Embry will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Embry
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Perri#4987 · Giannina#4987 · Karisma#4987 · Zuleyka#4987 · Mccall#4987 · Makinley#4987 · Jayani#4987 · Mela#4987
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Embry? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Embry and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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