Emer
Emer was last recorded in 2006, when 6 babies were given it; 102 Americans have been recorded with it between 1888 and 2006 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Emer by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Emer mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Emer is “a female given name from Old Irish.”
From Old Irish Emer; cognate with Irish Eimhear and Scottish Gaelic Eimhir.
/ˈimɚ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Emer?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,709, in 2006; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
10 babies in 1923, the peak
Emer peaked in 1923, when 10 babies were given it (5 girls, #5,181 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 6 | #15,709 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 6 | #14,694 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 10 | #9,715 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 6 | #13,676 | under 5 | |
| 1999 | 6 | #13,183 | under 5 | |
| 1998 | 5 | #14,871 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | under 5 | 5 | #8,829 | |
| 1928 | 5 | #4,936 | under 5 | |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,462 | under 5 | |
| 1923 | 5 | #5,181 | 5 | #4,415 |
Every recorded year (17)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | under 5 | 5 | #4,098 | |
| 1915 | under 5 | 5 | #3,997 | |
| 1907 | under 5 | 5 | #1,396 | |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,789 | under 5 | |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,553 | under 5 | |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,252 | under 5 | |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,345 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Emer a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 102 Americans recorded as Emer, 75% are girls and 25% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Emer: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Emer, and how old are they?
An estimated 44 Americans named Emer and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 440 people named Emer (249 women and girls, 191 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 46 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Emer rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 2,268 babies since 1880, Emer is the second most given (4.5% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Emer and names like it
- Compare Emer and EmmerBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sEmer peaked in 1923.
- The top names of 1923The year the most babies were named Emer.
- Names starting with EMost given first.