Emelda
Emelda was last recorded in 2019, when 5 babies were given it; 1,396 Americans have been recorded with it between 1907 and 2019 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Emelda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Emelda mean?
Wiktionary, Spanish section
Emelda is “a female given name, variant of Imelda”
/eˈmelda/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Spanish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Emelda?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #16,261, in 2019; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
34 babies in 1926, the peak
Emelda peaked in 1926, when 34 girls were given it, #1,364 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 5 | #16,261 | 3.0 |
| 2015 | 6 | #15,057 | 3.4 |
| 2001 | 5 | #16,088 | 2.8 |
| 1993 | 5 | #14,156 | 2.8 |
| 1990 | 5 | #13,619 | 2.6 |
| 1989 | 8 | #8,986 | 4.3 |
| 1988 | 6 | #10,754 | 3.4 |
| 1986 | 6 | #9,892 | 3.5 |
| 1985 | 7 | #8,610 | 4.1 |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,420 | 4.2 |
Every recorded year (86)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 11 | #5,927 | 6.6 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,490 | 4.1 |
| 1981 | 11 | #5,997 | 6.6 |
| 1980 | 10 | #6,430 | 6.0 |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,329 | 3.7 |
| 1978 | 14 | #4,748 | 9.1 |
| 1977 | 6 | #8,758 | 3.9 |
| 1976 | 11 | #5,317 | 7.5 |
| 1975 | 13 | #4,664 | 8.9 |
| 1974 | 6 | #7,982 | 4.1 |
| 1973 | 6 | #7,701 | 4.1 |
| 1972 | 13 | #4,362 | 8.5 |
| 1971 | 10 | #5,225 | 6.0 |
| 1970 | 18 | #3,469 | 10.3 |
| 1969 | 17 | #3,362 | 10.1 |
| 1968 | 13 | #3,847 | 7.9 |
| 1967 | 9 | #4,720 | 5.5 |
| 1966 | 10 | #4,276 | 5.9 |
| 1965 | 14 | #3,453 | 7.9 |
| 1964 | 15 | #3,417 | 7.9 |
| 1963 | 15 | #3,379 | 7.8 |
| 1962 | 19 | #2,841 | 9.7 |
| 1961 | 11 | #4,087 | 5.4 |
| 1960 | 8 | #4,888 | 4.0 |
| 1959 | 18 | #2,789 | 8.9 |
| 1958 | 16 | #3,004 | 8.0 |
| 1957 | 20 | #2,586 | 9.8 |
| 1956 | 17 | #2,855 | 8.5 |
| 1955 | 24 | #2,234 | 12.3 |
| 1954 | 21 | #2,395 | 10.8 |
| 1953 | 17 | #2,622 | 9.0 |
| 1952 | 22 | #2,222 | 11.9 |
| 1951 | 17 | #2,509 | 9.4 |
| 1950 | 22 | #2,070 | 12.8 |
| 1949 | 19 | #2,291 | 11.1 |
| 1948 | 27 | #1,829 | 15.9 |
| 1947 | 16 | #2,559 | 9.0 |
| 1946 | 22 | #1,978 | 14.0 |
| 1945 | 11 | #2,785 | 8.4 |
| 1944 | 22 | #1,822 | 16.6 |
| 1943 | 19 | #2,014 | 13.6 |
| 1942 | 19 | #1,996 | 14.1 |
| 1941 | 13 | #2,436 | 10.8 |
| 1940 | 22 | #1,705 | 19.2 |
| 1939 | 30 | #1,358 | 27.4 |
| 1938 | 19 | #1,819 | 17.2 |
| 1937 | 22 | #1,650 | 20.7 |
| 1936 | 22 | #1,604 | 21.1 |
| 1935 | 24 | #1,519 | 22.9 |
| 1934 | 16 | #2,021 | 15.3 |
| 1933 | 18 | #1,854 | 17.9 |
| 1932 | 20 | #1,773 | 18.7 |
| 1931 | 23 | #1,605 | 21.6 |
| 1930 | 24 | #1,624 | 21.3 |
| 1929 | 24 | #1,606 | 21.5 |
| 1928 | 26 | #1,604 | 22.5 |
| 1927 | 30 | #1,493 | 25.2 |
| 1926 | 34 | #1,364 | 28.7 |
| 1925 | 25 | #1,708 | 20.5 |
| 1924 | 33 | #1,452 | 26.4 |
| 1923 | 33 | #1,404 | 27.4 |
| 1922 | 25 | #1,699 | 20.8 |
| 1921 | 30 | #1,525 | 24.3 |
| 1920 | 28 | #1,561 | 23.4 |
| 1919 | 23 | #1,710 | 20.4 |
| 1918 | 18 | #2,052 | 15.5 |
| 1917 | 19 | #1,866 | 17.6 |
| 1916 | 20 | #1,754 | 19.2 |
| 1915 | 22 | #1,588 | 22.4 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,761 | 19.7 |
| 1913 | 14 | #1,621 | 22.4 |
| 1912 | 5 | #3,110 | 9.0 |
| 1911 | 8 | #1,835 | 19.1 |
| 1910 | 9 | #1,670 | 22.7 |
| 1909 | 13 | #1,171 | 37.4 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,689 | 22.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Emelda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Emelda has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 86 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Emelda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Emelda, and how old are they?
An estimated 622 Americans named Emelda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (45% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 54 and 77. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,652 people named Emelda (1,648 women and girls, 4 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 736 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.2 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Emelda born?
The states with the most babies named Emelda are Louisiana, Texas and California, with 100% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | 715 | not ranked | 24.1× |
| Texas | 27 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| California | 12 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Emelda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Emelda is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1910 it was given 24.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Emelda with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Emelda
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Emelda and names like it
- Compare Emelda and PauleneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sEmelda peaked in 1926.
- Louisiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Emelda since 1910.
- Spanish namesWiktionary’s origin for Emelda: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1926The year the most babies were named Emelda.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Emelda alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with EMost given first.