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Emmet

Masculine · “ant”

1880high 2016
#1554 in the U.S.stepping back from its peak
falling110 boys in 2025

Emmet is an ant, or a little Emma — the surname has two possible parents, and the ant reading is a genuine Old English word that survives in dialect.

How old is the name Emmet?

Emmet was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Emmet alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 4,400 people named Emmet are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Emmet most popular?

Emmet peaked in 1880, reaching #283 nationally. Today it ranks #1554, 1,271 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.

Compare this nameMore “E” names

Emmet appears on these lists:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Emmet

Both routes are documented in English surname records. The name's American career owes a great deal to Robert Emmet, the Irish revolutionary executed in 1803 whose speech from the dock was learned by heart by generations of Irish and Irish-American schoolchildren. Emmet appears in American registers through the nineteenth century and peaked around 1885.

Meaningscholars disagree

ant; whole, universal

One reading takes the surname from the Old English æmete, 'ant', used as a nickname for an industrious person; the word survives as the dialect 'emmet'. The other derives it from Emma with a diminutive, so a metronymic surname — 'little Emma's son'. Emma itself is from the Germanic ermen, 'whole' or 'universal'.

How the name formed

  1. æmete
  2. Emmet

Related forms: Emmett · Éamon · Emmerich

Pronouncing Emmet

EM-it

Two syllables, stress on the first. Emmet and Emmett are said identically.

Nicknames for Emmet

Moderate

EmThe front sound alone, which reads as feminine to most English speakers
EmmyThe affectionate stretch, thoroughly unisex in older use
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 1880–2025243122024311018802025

US babies named Emmet per year from 1880 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#2831880s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1880
Most boys named
2016243 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#283reached in 1880
Change vs 2022
−9.8%110 in 2025, from 122
Emmet is past its biggest year. The count topped out at 243 boys in 2016 and has eased 55% since — the slow half of a naming cycle, where a name stays familiar while getting steadily less common. The move since 2022: down 9.8%.

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.

Emmet in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Emmett in English — spelling variant
  • Éamon in Irish — related form
  • Emmerich in German — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Michigan, Illinois.

Emmets among us

4,400

people named Emmet are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 boy in 15,528 born in 2025 was named Emmet

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Emmet

#1554
Emmet on the 2025 chart
#120
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Emmet went to 110 boys in 2025, but Emmett and Emet are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 3,093, which makes it the 120th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,434 places above the chart.

and 1 rarer spelling.

About 1 boy in 552 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 15,528 for Emmet 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

III

Is it right for you

Fashion outlook

Emmet 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.

40%chance Emmet will feel “very 2010s” by 2040
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored

Where Emmet is headed

18802030

US babies named Emmet per year, 1880 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Emmet is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.

Cooling-15% by 2030projected around #1,798 in 2030

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.

Emmet beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Emmet in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Emmetthis name110#1554Kysen110#1554Rylen110#1554Cypress110#1554Paulo110#1554

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • The ant reading is concrete and describes a real Old English word still alive in dialect.
  • It carries a specific and much-remembered piece of Irish history.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
What to consider
  • The origin is genuinely split between an insect and a woman's name.
  • Emmett with two t's is now the commoner spelling.
  • It is strongly period-coded to the nineteenth century.

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Emmet

Masculine · #1554 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Emmets are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,400 people named Emmet are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Emmet?
Emmet is one of 3 recorded spellings. Emmett is the more common one — 2,950 births in 2025 against 110 for Emmet.
How popular is the name Emmet in 2025?
Emmet ranks #1554 among US boy names in 2025, with 110 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Emmet?
About 1 in every 15,528 US boys born in 2025 was named Emmet — 110 in all.
Will my child share the name Emmet with classmates?
Emmet will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Emmet

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Kysen#1554 · Rylen#1554 · Cypress#1554 · Paulo#1554 · Jeffery#1554 · Navy#1554 · Zayvion#1554 · Youssef#1554

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emmet? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Emmet and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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