Emory
Feminine
Emory is given to both — 10,792 girls and 18,970 boys since 1880. See Emory as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Emory is the surname spelling of Emery, a name the Normans carried into England from the Germanic Emmerich and which English speakers then wore down into a family name. It has appeared in American records without a break for more than a century, and it is strongest in the South, where Emory University in Atlanta — named for a nineteenth-century Methodist bishop — keeps this exact spelling in everyday sight.
How old is the name Emory?
Emory first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Emory is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 10,500 people named Emory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emory most popular?
Emory peaked in 2024, reaching #333 nationally. Today it ranks #339, 6 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Where it comes from
From Amalric to Emory
The story of Emory
The oldest form is the Germanic Amalric, which shows up in medieval Europe as Emmerich and in France as Aymeric and Amaury. Norman speakers brought it to England, where it settled as Emery and, like so many medieval given names, hardened into a surname passed down through families. American parents have long turned old surnames back into first names, and Emory is that move applied to this one — the -ory ending marks it as the family-name spelling rather than the medieval given name. The same root produced Amerigo in Italy and Imre in Hungary, so the line runs through several languages before it reaches this page.
Meaningscholars disagree
from Germanic elements meaning roughly "work" and "ruler, power"
The second element, Germanic rīc, "power, ruler," is agreed on. The first is read two ways: amal, "work, labor, vigor," giving something like "industrious ruler"; or the name of the Amal, the Gothic royal line, which would make it "ruler of the Amals." Both readings are taken seriously, and neither has pushed the other out.
How the name formed
- Amalric
- Emmerich
- Emery
- Emory
Related forms: Emmerich · Aymeric · Imre · Amerigo · Américo · Emery
Pronouncing Emory
EM-uh-ree
Three syllables said carefully, often two in quick speech: EM-ree. Identical to Emery — the spelling is the only difference.
Nicknames for Emory
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 2024940 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #333reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −4.4%899 in 2025, from 940
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.
Emory in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Emmerich in German — same name
- Aymeric in French — related form
- Imre in Hungarian — same name
- Amerigo in Italian — related form
- Américo in Spanish — related form
- Emery in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee.
Emorys among us
people named Emory are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,788 born in 2025 was named Emory
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Emory
- #339
- Emory on the 2025 chart
- #296
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Emory went to 899 girls in 2025, but Emori, Emmory and Emmori are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,059, which makes it the 296th most-given girls’ name of the year — 43 places above the chart.
- Emory899
- Emori135
- Emmory12
- Emmori8
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 1,518 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,788 for Emory 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 Tommie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Emory's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tommie climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tommie's path sketches the road Emory is walking now.
Emory 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 Emory is headed
Emory looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 18% 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.
Emory beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emory in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ready-made short forms — Em, Emmy — that have been in English use for generations, so nothing has to be invented.
- Works for a boy or a girl without adjustment, as surname-derived names generally do.
- A documented line back to medieval Germanic Amalric, with living relatives in German, French, Italian and Hungarian.
- Familiar in the American South through Emory University, which uses this exact spelling.
- On US records continuously for over a century, so it is neither brand new nor tied to one decade.
- Emery is the older and better-known spelling, so expect to spell Emory out often, and to see it corrected on forms and class lists for life.
- The Em- shelf is crowded — Emma, Emily, Emmett, Emerson — and Emory is easily misheard as one of them, especially over the phone.
- Most children given this spelling now are girls, so a boy named Emory will sometimes meet an assumption before he walks in the room. It is a small thing, and it is answered by saying his name.
- It is climbing steadily rather than holding still, so a child born now may find the name more familiar to others by the time they finish school than it is today.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Emory to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Emory
Feminine · #339 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emorys 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 Emory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Emory?
- Emory is the most-used spelling in US records — 899 of the 1,059 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Emori, Emmory and Emmori.
- How popular is the name Emory in 2025?
- Emory ranks #339 among US girl names in 2025, with 899 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emory?
- About 1 in every 1,788 US girls born in 2025 was named Emory — 899 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emory with classmates?
- Emory will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emory
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Heidi#340 · Miley#338 · Teagan#340 · Aisha#337 · Leighton#342 · Anaya#336 · Annabelle#343 · Ryleigh#343
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emory? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emory and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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