How common is the name Emily?

755,529 people in the United States have the first name Emily, about 1 in 400. It ranks #44 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

EMILY

#44

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
755,529
About
1 in 400
This common or more
19.5%
Who bears it

Of the 755,529 people named Emily, 75.6% reported their origin as White, 15.4% as Hispanic or Latino and 4% as Asian or Pacific Islander. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Emily peaked in 1999, when 26,587 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1999
Births that year
26,587
In 2025*
5,461 ▼79%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 898,296 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Emily by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2000s, when it ranked #4. The largest share of babies named Emily, 38.4%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1880s#1473,368
1890s#1325,481
1900s#1396,423
1910s#17917,086
1920s#23818,807
1930s#30511,969
1940s#33213,442
1950s#42612,853
1960s#46112,337
1970s#13446,987
1980s#58132,291
1990s#18237,646
2000s#4224,161
2010s#25117,777
2020s#6837,668
Before 19011.1%
Greatest Generation 1901–274.3%
Silent Generation 1928–452.5%
Baby boom 1946–642.7%
Generation X 1965–807%
Millennials 1981–9631.4%
Generation Z 1997–1238.4%
2013 and later12.6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Emily is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Emily has been most common in New Hampshire (1.6×), Nevada (1.6×), and Alaska (1.5×), and least common in Mississippi (0.63×).

880,120 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Emily

#42 Michelle · 757,098#43 Kenneth · 755,679#45 Ashley · 752,330#46 Jeffrey · 735,428

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Emily, most common first.

#1,682 Emely · 18,465#2,007 Emil · 13,668#3,808 Emile · 5,190#7,829 Emili · 1,902#9,084 Emiley · 1,559#9,960 Emilly · 1,362#13,400 Emmily · 903#15,849 Emilo · 720

Also a last name

As a last name, Emily ranks #27,910 of 156,621, with 912 people. See Emily as a last name

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