Emely
Feminine
Emely is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 23,864 girls against 16 boys since 1880.
Emely is the Emily line spelled the way it is written in Germany and Scandinavia, and it has been on American records for more than a century without ever crowding a classroom. The sound behind it is very old: Chaucer wrote his heroine's name as Emelye in The Knight's Tale in the late fourteenth century, so this shape of the spelling has company going a long way back.
How old is the name Emely?
Emely first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Emely alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 23,500 people named Emely are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emely most popular?
Emely peaked in 2005, reaching #298 nationally. Today it ranks #503, 205 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aemilius to Emely
The story of Emely
Aemilius was one of the great patrician family names of Rome, and its feminine form Aemilia passed into Italian and Latin church use as Emilia. Medieval English took it in and reshaped it: Chaucer's Emelye in The Knight's Tale shows the two-and-a-bit-syllable English version already in place in the fourteenth century, spelled with an e where we now write an i. Emily became the settled English form, while German and Scandinavian usage kept versions ending in -y and -ie, including Emely and Emelie. In the United States both the Emily spelling and this one have been recorded side by side for generations.
Meaningscholars disagree
From the Roman family name Aemilius, usually read as "rival" or "emulating"
The standard reading connects Aemilius to Latin aemulus, "rival, emulating." But Aemilius was an old Roman clan name, and clan names of that age often predate the Latin words scholars match them to, so the origin of the family name itself is not firmly settled. Both readings are honest; neither is a stretch.
How the name formed
- Aemilius
- Aemilia
- Emilia
- Emily
- Emely
Related forms: Emilia · Émilie · Emilia · Emelie · Emely · Emilia
Pronouncing Emely
EM-uh-lee
Identical to Emily in English, and often compressed to EM-lee in quick speech. Spanish-speaking families frequently say eh-meh-LEE or EH-meh-lee, so it is worth deciding early which one you will use when introducing her.
Nicknames for Emely
High
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 20081,092 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #298reached in 2005
- Change vs 2023
- −19.1%590 in 2025, from 729
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.
Emely in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Emilia in Spanish — same name
- Émilie in French — same name
- Emilia in Italian — same name
- Emelie in Swedish — spelling variant
- Emely in German — spelling variant
- Emilia in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Emelys among us
people named Emely are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,724 born in 2025 was named Emely
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Lorna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Emely's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lorna climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lorna's path sketches the road Emely is walking now.
Emely 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 Emely is headed
Emely 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.
Emely beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emely in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The sound is instantly familiar to everyone, since it is shared with Emily — no one will ask what the name is.
- Short forms are already in place and have been for generations: Em, Emmy, Emmie.
- Documented in English since Chaucer's Emelye in the fourteenth century, with Latin roots going back much further.
- Works in German, Scandinavian and Spanish-speaking settings as well as English, with only the pronunciation shifting.
- Long unbroken presence in US records, and steady rather than tied to one decade's fashion.
- This spelling will be corrected to Emily for life — on forms, in emails, by teachers on the first day. It is a one-letter fix each time, but it happens often enough that it is worth being ready for.
- The Emily spelling has been one of the most heavily used girls' names of recent decades, so while an Emely will rarely meet another, she will meet plenty of children who sound exactly like her.
- English and Spanish give the name two different rhythms, EM-uh-lee and eh-meh-LEE. In a bilingual family that can be a pleasure rather than a problem, but it does mean she may answer to both.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Emely
Feminine · #503 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emelys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 23,500 people named Emely are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Emely in 2025?
- Emely ranks #503 among US girl names in 2025, with 590 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emely?
- About 1 in every 2,724 US girls born in 2025 was named Emely — 590 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emely with classmates?
- Emely will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emely
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nylah#503 · Raelyn#502 · Raegan#505 · Mariam#505 · Mae#500 · Bianca#500 · Edith#499 · Yara#507
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emely? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emely and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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