Emerald
Masculine · “the green gem”
Emerald is given to both — 538 boys and 9,518 girls since 1880. See Emerald as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Emerald is the green gemstone, and the word has traveled about as far as a word can — from a Semitic root through Greek, Latin and French into English, changing shape at every border.
How old is the name Emerald?
Emerald first appears in US birth records in 1908 — 117 years ago. The typical Emerald alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 300 people named Emerald are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emerald most popular?
Emerald peaked in 1908, reaching #1217 nationally. Today it ranks #3513, 2,296 places below that high. See the whole 1908 chart.
Where it comes from
From smaragdos to Emerald
The story of Emerald
The word for this stone has been passed between languages since antiquity, and each one dropped or added a sound: the Greek smaragdos may come from a Semitic root for shining, Latin kept the s, French lost it, and English took the French. Emeralds came from Egypt in the ancient world and from Colombia after the sixteenth century. Its use as a given name is nineteenth-century, alongside Ruby and Pearl, and it was given to boys as well as girls.
Meaning
the green gem
From Greek smaragdos, a green stone, itself probably borrowed from a Semitic language; Latin made smaragdus, Old French esmeraude, and English emerald. The initial s was lost somewhere in the Romance languages.
How the name formed
- smaragdos
- esmeraude
- emerald
Related forms: Esmeralda · Smeraldo · Émeraude
Pronouncing Emerald
EM-uh-rald
Three syllables, first stressed. There is no variation in English.
Nicknames for Emerald
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
- 1908
- Most boys named
- 202532 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1217reached in 1908
- Change vs 2024
- +23.1%32 in 2025, from 26
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.
Emerald in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Esmeralda in Spanish — related form
- Smeraldo in Italian — related form
- Émeraude in French — related form
Emeralds among us
people named Emerald are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 53,377 born in 2025 was named Emerald
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Emerald 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 Emerald is headed
Emerald looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 31% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Emerald beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emerald in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely long and well-documented journey between languages.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Real nineteenth-century American use for both sexes.
- It is given far more often to girls in current records, so assumptions will run that way.
- Naming a child for a gemstone invites remarks about value.
- Seven letters and three syllables is a fair amount for early handwriting.
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What they receive
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Emerald
Masculine · #3513 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emeralds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Emerald are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Emerald in 2025?
- Emerald ranks #3513 among US boy names in 2025, with 32 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emerald?
- About 1 in every 53,377 US boys born in 2025 was named Emerald — 32 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emerald with classmates?
- Emerald will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emerald
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bradford#3513 · Denton#3513 · Harden#3513 · Geronimo#3513 · Breon#3513 · Hashem#3513 · Jamere#3513 · Leslie#3513
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emerald? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emerald and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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