# Emil (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/emil/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Latin |
| Meaning | “rival” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 33,230 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 33,096 / 134 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 1,182, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From German Emil, from Latin Aemilius, a Roman family name possibly from aemulus (“rival”). Cognate with French Émile.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 7 | 4,109 |
| 1921 | 8 | 3,768 |
| 1922 | 6 | 4,617 |
| 1923 | 6 | 4,552 |
| 1924 | 6 | 4,645 |
| 1925 | 8 | 3,784 |
| 1926 | 6 | 4,466 |
| 1927 | 7 | 3,984 |
| 1928 | 7 | 3,883 |
| 1929 | 7 | 3,790 |
| 1930 | 5 | 4,753 |
| 1931 | 7 | 3,601 |
| 1935 | 5 | 4,405 |
| 1938 | 5 | 4,529 |
| 1960 | 5 | 6,644 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 106 | 1,512 |
| 2012 | 114 | 1,449 |
| 2013 | 115 | 1,437 |
| 2014 | 120 | 1,403 |
| 2015 | 127 | 1,371 |
| 2016 | 125 | 1,405 |
| 2017 | 144 | 1,267 |
| 2018 | 129 | 1,369 |
| 2019 | 155 | 1,227 |
| 2020 | 152 | 1,235 |
| 2021 | 152 | 1,258 |
| 2022 | 188 | 1,126 |
| 2023 | 187 | 1,131 |
| 2024 | 159 | 1,245 |
| 2025 | 155 | 1,269 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 53 | 631 |
| 2012 | 49 | 682 |
| 2013 | 50 | 666 |
| 2014 | 54 | 632 |
| 2015 | 76 | 506 |
| 2016 | 56 | 631 |
| 2017 | 54 | 650 |
| 2018 | 46 | 731 |
| 2019 | 55 | 642 |
| 2020 | 52 | 656 |
| 2021 | 50 | 695 |
| 2022 | 41 | 784 |
| 2023 | 42 | 779 |
| 2024 | 47 | 737 |
| 2025 | 43 | 771 |

## In other languages

- Bulgarian: Еми́л
- Catalan: Emili
- Chinese: 埃米爾 /埃米尔
- Czech: Emil
- Danish: Emil
- Dutch: Emiel
- Finnish: Eemeli
- French: Émile
- German: Emil
- Greek: Αιμίλιος
- Hebrew: אמיל
- Hungarian: Emil
- Icelandic: Emil
- Italian: Emilio
- Latvian: Emīls
- Norwegian: Emil
- Polish: Emil
- Portuguese: Emílio
- Romanian: Emil
- Russian: Эми́ль

## People named Emil

- Emil Fischer, German chemist (1852–1919)
- Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish military leader and statesman (1867–1951)
- Emil Zátopek, Czech long-distance runner (1922-2000)
- Emil Jannings, German actor (1884-1950)
- Emil Nolde, German artist (1867–1956)
- Emil Boc, 61st Prime Minister of Romania (2008-2012)
- Emil Lenz, Baltic German physicist (1804-1865)
- Emile Berliner, German-born American inventor (1851–1929)
- Emil Hácha, Czech politician, political prisoner, lawyer, translator and judge (1872-1945)
- John Louis Emil Dreyer, Danish-Irish astronomer
- Emil Artin, Austrian-Armenian mathematician (1898–1962)
- Emil Kostadinov, Bulgarian footballer

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.