Emsley
Feminine · “Emm's clearing”
Emsley is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 797 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
Emsley is an English surname from a place — a clearing belonging to a man whose name has worn down to Em — and it has become a girls' given name on the strength of the Em at the front.
How old is the name Emsley?
Emsley first appears in US birth records in 2006 — 19 years ago. The typical Emsley is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 800 people named Emsley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emsley most popular?
Emsley peaked in 2015, reaching #2555 nationally. Today it ranks #3645, 1,090 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Emsley
English place names of the -ley type are among the commonest in the country, and each records a clearing in what was once forest. Emsley and Elmsley are recorded in Yorkshire and the north. The surname reached America with English emigration. Its move into girls' given names is very recent and rests largely on its opening syllable, which puts it beside Emma, Emery and Emerson.
Meaningscholars disagree
Emm's clearing
The second element is settled: Old English leah, a woodland clearing. The first is a personal name, variously reconstructed, and the modern surname may also descend from Elmsley, the elm clearing. Neither reading is fully established.
Pronouncing Emsley
EMZ-lee
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Emsley
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
- 2006
- Most girls named
- 201570 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2555reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −14.6%41 in 2025, from 48
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.
Emsley in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elmsley in English — related form
- Emsly in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Ohio.
Emsleys among us
people named Emsley are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 39,202 born in 2025 was named Emsley
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Keyera test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Emsley's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Keyera climbed just as high around 1997, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Keyera's path sketches the road Emsley is walking now.
Emsley 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 Emsley is headed
Emsley 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.
Emsley beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emsley in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented English place-name meaning behind a very current sound.
- Em is a ready short form, though a widely shared one.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Em is shared with so many current names that the short form will not distinguish her.
- Emsley, Emmsley and Elmsley are all in use and none is dominant.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
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Emsley
Feminine · #3645 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emsleys 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 Emsley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Emsley in 2025?
- Emsley ranks #3645 among US girl names in 2025, with 41 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emsley?
- About 1 in every 39,202 US girls born in 2025 was named Emsley — 41 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emsley with classmates?
- Emsley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emsley
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elenor#3645 · Azucena#3645 · Alaura#3645 · Judah#3645 · Rylen#3645 · Zamiyah#3645 · Naiara#3645 · Marietta#3645
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emsley? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emsley and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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