Emmitt
Masculine · “from Emma”
Emmitt is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 14,238 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
Emmitt is one of the double-t spellings of Emmett, an English surname that began life as a woman's pet name — Emmet, from Emma — and then traveled the usual road from surname back to first name. It has been on American records continuously since the first years of national name-keeping, quietly held together by that clipped two-beat sound: EM-it.
How old is the name Emmitt?
Emmitt was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Emmitt alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 10,500 people named Emmitt are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emmitt most popular?
Emmitt peaked in 1905, reaching #421 nationally. Today it ranks #769, 348 places below that high. See the whole 1905 chart.
Emmitt appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Emma to Emmitt
The story of Emmitt
Medieval England had a fashion for surnames built from a mother's name, and Emma — brought over by Norman French speakers and enormously common — produced the pet form Emmet, which hardened into the family names Emmett, Emmet and Emmott. Those surnames crossed to America and, like Everett, Elliott and Emery, were taken up as first names in the nineteenth century, when surname-names were at their height. The spelling with two t's and an i has stood alongside Emmett throughout that American run rather than appearing recently. Its best-known modern bearer, the Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith, carries exactly this form.
Meaning
from Emma — 'whole, universal'
The line runs through the medieval English given name Emmet, a diminutive of Emma, which became a surname and later a first name again. Emma itself rests on the Germanic element ermen/irmin, 'whole, entire, universal'.
How the name formed
- Emma
- Emmet
- Emmett
- Emmitt
Related forms: Emmett · Emmet · Emmott · Emma · Émile
Pronouncing Emmitt
EM-it
Stress on the first syllable, exactly as Emmett. The second syllable is light — closer to 'it' than 'ett'. No competing pronunciation exists in English.
Nicknames for Emmitt
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 2019571 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #421reached in 1905
- Change vs 2022
- −29.1%333 in 2025, from 470
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.
Emmitt in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Emmett in English — spelling variant
- Emmet in Irish English — spelling variant
- Emmott in English (surname) — spelling variant
- Emma in German — related form
- Émile in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, California.
Emmitts among us
people named Emmitt are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 5,129 born in 2025 was named Emmitt
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Emmitt
- #769
- Emmitt on the 2025 chart
- #584
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Emmitt went to 333 boys in 2025, but Emmit and Emitt are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 376, which makes it the 584th most-given boys’ name of the year — 185 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 4,543 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 5,129 for Emmitt 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
Fashion outlook
Emmitt 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 Emmitt is headed
Emmitt should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Emmitt beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emmitt in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Instantly sayable: two short syllables, no sounds that trouble English speakers, and one pronunciation only.
- Already familiar to American ears through Emmett, so it never needs explaining as a name — only as a spelling.
- An unbroken record in US name statistics stretching back to the earliest years such records were kept.
- Established short forms in real use — Em, Emmy — rather than ones a family has to invent.
- Traceable ancestry all the way to Emma, one of the best-documented names in English.
- Emmett is the more common spelling, so Emmitt will be corrected on forms, rosters and email addresses for life. Nothing about that is hard, but it becomes a small sentence he repeats often: 'i-t-t.'
- Em and Emmy sit on top of Emma, Emily and Emmeline, all far more numerous. In a classroom the short form may already belong to someone else.
- For sports-minded Americans the spelling points straight at one famous football career. That may be a pleasure or a shadow depending on the family, and it fades with each passing decade.
- A child with this name will likely be the only one wherever he goes — good for distinctiveness, less good if he would rather not be the one whose name gets asked about.
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Emmitt
Masculine · #769 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emmitts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Emmitt are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Emmitt?
- Emmitt is the most-used spelling in US records — 333 of the 376 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Emmit and Emitt.
- How popular is the name Emmitt in 2025?
- Emmitt ranks #769 among US boy names in 2025, with 333 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emmitt?
- About 1 in every 5,129 US boys born in 2025 was named Emmitt — 333 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emmitt with classmates?
- Emmitt will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emmitt
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Reign#769 · Keaton#769 · Boden#769 · Brayan#768 · Izael#767 · Asaiah#773 · Truce#773 · Campbell#763
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emmitt? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emmitt and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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