Emilio
Masculine
Emilio is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 53,955 boys against 58 girls since 1880.
Emilio carries one of Rome's great family names into modern Spanish and Italian: the Aemilii, whose name still marks a road and a whole region of northern Italy. Three vowels ride the middle of it, and the stress lands on the long ee — eh-MEE-lyoh — so it moves quickly for a four-letter-ending name. It has been in continuous use for centuries and is presently gaining ground in the US.
How old is the name Emilio?
Emilio first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Emilio alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 48,500 people named Emilio are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emilio most popular?
Emilio peaked in 2024, reaching #151 nationally. Today it ranks #154, 3 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Where it comes from
From Aemilius to Emilio
The story of Emilio
The Aemilii were one of the patrician families of the Roman Republic, and their name outlived them in stone: the Via Aemilia, laid across northern Italy in the second century BC, gave its name to the region still called Emilia-Romagna. Early Christian saints named Aemilianus and Aemilius kept the name in church calendars through the Middle Ages, and it settled into Italian and Spanish as Emilio, into French as Émile, into German and Polish as Emil. Spanish-speaking families carried it to the Americas, which is why it reads as thoroughly at home in California and Texas as in Italy. In American film it is most recognizable through Emilio Estevez.
Meaningscholars disagree
from the Roman family name Aemilius, usually read as 'rival, striving to equal'
The standard reading connects Aemilius to Latin aemulus, 'rival' or 'emulating'. But Aemilius is itself an old patrician clan name, and clan names of that age often predate the Latin words they resemble; some scholars have instead linked it to Greek haimylios, 'winning, persuasive in speech'. Neither reading has closed the case.
Cultural footprint
Emilio Estevez (b. 1962) — The Breakfast Club and Mighty Ducks star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Aemilius
- Aemilianus
- Emilius
- Emilio
Related forms: Emilio · Emilio · Emílio · Émile · Emil · Emili
Pronouncing Emilio
eh-MEE-lyoh
In Spanish and Italian the -lio glides into one quick syllable. English speakers often say eh-MEE-lee-oh, with four syllables; both are widely understood and the stress stays on the MEE either way.
Nicknames for Emilio
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 20252,397 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #151reached in 2024
- Change vs 2022
- +25.6%2,397 in 2025, from 1,909
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.
Emilio in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Emilio in Spanish — same name
- Emilio in Italian — same name
- Emílio in Portuguese — spelling variant
- Émile in French — same name
- Emil in German — same name
- Emili in Catalan — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Illinois.
Emilios among us
people named Emilio are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 713 born in 2025 was named Emilio
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 Chandler test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Emilio's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Chandler climbed just as high around 1999, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Chandler's path sketches the road Emilio is walking now.
Emilio 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Emilio is headed
Emilio looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
High 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.
Emilio beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emilio in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the same way in Spanish and Italian, and close to the German and Polish Emil — it travels across languages with almost no adjustment.
- Reads phonetically to most English speakers on a first look, even those who have never met one.
- Has real short forms already in circulation — Emi, Milo, Emilito — rather than ones a family has to invent.
- A documented record stretching from Republican Rome to the present, with no long gaps in use.
- Currently climbing rather than fading, yet uncommon enough that a child is unlikely to share a classroom with another.
- It sits very close to Emilia, Emily and Emiliano, all of them well used. Expect occasional mishearing, and a few people asking which one you said.
- English mouths tend to stretch it to four syllables and sometimes soften the opening vowel toward 'uh-MEE-lee-oh'. Nothing breaks, but the crisp Spanish version may need repeating in some rooms.
- Milo, the most natural English shortening, has become popular in its own right — a child may end up known by a name you did not exactly choose.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Emilio to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Emilio? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Emilio
Masculine · #154 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emilios are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 48,500 people named Emilio are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Emilio in 2025?
- Emilio ranks #154 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,397 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emilio?
- About 1 in every 713 US boys born in 2025 was named Emilio — 2,397 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emilio with classmates?
- Emilio will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emilio
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Evan#153 · Jude#155 · Jaxson#156 · Bryson#152 · Elliot#151 · Colter#157 · Carlos#150 · Diego#158
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emilio? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emilio and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle