Emma
Masculine · “whole”
Emma is given to girls far more often — 776,439 girls against 1,733 boys since 1880. See Emma as a girl name
Emma stood inside the American top four hundred and sixty for boys in 1890. That is not a data error and it needs an explanation: nineteenth-century American families used Emma on sons, most often as a short form of Emmanuel, Emmett or Emory, and sometimes as a family name carried forward regardless of sex.
How old is the name Emma?
Emma was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Emma alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 800 people named Emma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emma most popular?
Emma peaked in 1890, reaching #458 nationally. Today it ranks #6143, 5,685 places below that high. See the whole 1890 chart.
Where it comes from
From ermen to Emma
The story of Emma
Sex-marking in American naming was much looser before 1900 than after. Records from the 1880s carry girls named Henry, William and Jesse, and boys named Emma, Marion, Jean and Beverly, and in most cases the explanation is family transmission: a name was carried forward because it belonged to the family, and the sex of the child was a secondary consideration. Short forms complicate it further — a boy called Emma may well have been Emmanuel or Emmett on his baptismal record. The practice faded almost entirely by 1920, and by mid-century American naming had sorted itself into strict lists.
Meaning
whole, universal, entire
Emma is a Germanic short form of names beginning with ermen or irmin, meaning whole, entire or universal — the same element as in Irmgard and Ermintrude. It came to England with Emma of Normandy in the eleventh century. Where the nineteenth-century American male Emma stands for Emmanuel or Emmett instead, the meanings are different: Emmanuel is Hebrew for 'God with us', and Emmett descends from a medieval diminutive of Emma itself.
How the name formed
- ermen
- Emma
- Emma
Related forms: Emmett · Emma · Emmanuel
Pronouncing Emma
EM-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Identical on either sex; there is no separate masculine pronunciation and there never was.
Nicknames for Emma
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 200337 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #458reached in 1890
- Change vs 2023
- −17.6%14 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.
Emma in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Emmett in English — related form
- Emma in German — same name
- Emmanuel in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Emmas among us
people named Emma are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 122,005 born in 2025 was named Emma
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
Emma 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
Emma beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emma in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and expressible in two words.
- Emmanuel and Emmett are both available as longer masculine forms.
- It has a documented nineteenth-century American history on boys.
- In current use it is overwhelmingly a girls' name and has been for a century.
- Emma was the most popular American girls' name for much of the 2000s and 2010s.
- Forms and databases will assume female without exception.
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Emma
Masculine · #6143 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emmas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Emma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Emma in 2025?
- Emma ranks #6143 among US boy names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emma?
- About 1 in every 122,005 US boys born in 2025 was named Emma — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emma with classmates?
- Emma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emma
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ruel#6143 · Cornell#6143 · Vasco#6143 · Kemper#6143 · Yates#6143 · Roark#6143 · Raja#6143 · Orville#6143
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emma? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emma and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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