Emmanuel
Masculine · “God is with us”
Emmanuel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 91,079 boys against 372 girls since 1880.
Emmanuel comes straight out of the Hebrew prophets and has been sung in Latin, Greek, Spanish and English ever since — the medieval hymn "Veni, veni, Emmanuel" is still sung every Advent. Four syllables that settle on a soft stress in the middle, ih-MAN-yoo-el, with the ready-made short form Manny waiting underneath. It has been on American records since the closing years of the nineteenth century and has never left.
How old is the name Emmanuel?
Emmanuel first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Emmanuel alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 88,000 people named Emmanuel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emmanuel most popular?
Emmanuel peaked in 2009, reaching #144 nationally. Today it ranks #179, 35 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Where it comes from
From Immanu'el to Emmanuel
The story of Emmanuel
The name appears in the Book of Isaiah as a sign given to the house of Judah, and is quoted again in the Gospel of Matthew, which supplies its translation directly in the text: "God with us." Greek-speaking scribes wrote it Emmanouēl, Latin kept it as Emmanuel, and from Latin it spread through the Christian world. Spanish and Portuguese clipped the front off to make Manuel, which then traveled with them to the Americas — one reason the full form and its shortened cousin are both so at home in the Southwest and in Florida today. In French it stayed whole, which is how it reached one of the most recognizable political figures in Europe.
Meaning
God is with us
From Hebrew ʿimmanu ʾel — ʿimmanu, "with us," plus El, "God."
Cultural footprint
Emmanuel Macron (b. 1977) — France's youngest-ever president
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Immanu'el
- Emmanouēl
- Emmanuel
- Manuel
- Manny
Related forms: Manuel · Emanuele · Emmanouil · Immanuel · Manoel · Emanuel
Pronouncing Emmanuel
ih-MAN-yoo-el
Four syllables with the stress on MAN. Spanish speakers usually say eh-mah-NWEL; French closer to eh-ma-nü-EL.
Nicknames for Emmanuel
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
- 1898
- Most boys named
- 20082,862 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #144reached in 2009
- Change vs 2023
- −3.4%2,035 in 2025, from 2,107
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.
Emmanuel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Manuel in Spanish — related form
- Emanuele in Italian — same name
- Emmanouil in Greek — transliteration
- Immanuel in German — spelling variant
- Manoel in Portuguese — related form
- Emanuel in Polish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Emmanuels among us
people named Emmanuel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 839 born in 2025 was named Emmanuel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Emmanuel
- #179
- Emmanuel on the 2025 chart
- #147
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Emmanuel went to 2,035 boys in 2025, but Emanuel is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 2,548, which makes it the 147th most-given boys’ name of the year — 32 places above the chart.
- Emmanuel2,035
- Emanuel513
About 1 boy in 670 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 839 for Emmanuel 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 Ted test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Emmanuel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ted climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ted's path sketches the road Emmanuel is walking now.
Emmanuel 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 Emmanuel is headed
Emmanuel should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Emmanuel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emmanuel 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 famous, translated inside the biblical text itself rather than reconstructed by scholars.
- Long-established short forms — Manny, Manu — so the name works on both a diploma and a playground.
- Recognized across Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Greek, German and Polish, with a local form waiting in each.
- On American records for well over a century without ever disappearing, and still given to babies every year.
- The spelling has close rivals: Emanuel with one m, Immanuel with an I, and Manuel on its own. Expect to spell it aloud fairly often, and to see the wrong version come back on forms.
- It is an unambiguously religious name — a sentence about God, not just a word with a devout history. That is the point for many families, and worth thinking through if it isn't for yours.
- Four syllables is a lot of name for a small child, though the short forms take over early for most families.
- Common enough to be instantly recognized, uncommon enough that a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Emmanuel
Masculine · #179 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emmanuels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 88,000 people named Emmanuel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Emmanuel?
- Emmanuel is the most-used spelling in US records — 2,035 of the 2,548 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Emanuel.
- How popular is the name Emmanuel in 2025?
- Emmanuel ranks #179 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,035 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emmanuel?
- About 1 in every 839 US boys born in 2025 was named Emmanuel — 2,035 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emmanuel with classmates?
- Emmanuel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emmanuel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Judah#178 · Max#180 · Nicolas#177 · Tucker#181 · Cole#182 · Antonio#176 · Ryker#182 · Felix#175
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emmanuel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emmanuel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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