Emerald
Emerald was given to 367 girls in 2025, #741 among girls’ names; 10,056 Americans have been recorded with it since 1904 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,480 Americans named Emerald and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 19 years old and half are between 7 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Emerald by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Emerald mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Emerald is “a female given name from English.”
From emerald. The Queensland town takes its name from the emerald and other precious stone deposits in the area and from the pastoral run Emerald Downs, a name chosen circa 1860 by pastoralist Peter Fitzallan MacDonald. It is unclear if emeralds were found in or around Emerald. The given name is a modern coinage from the name of the gemstone, representing a vernacular form of Esmeralda.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Emerald?
#741 among girls’ names, 2025
Emerald rose from #1,248 in 2015 to #741 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.11 to 0.23 per 1,000.
423 babies in 2024, the peak
Emerald peaked in 2024, when 423 babies were given it (397 girls, #708 among girls’ names). The 399 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 94% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 367 | #741 | 0.23 |
| 2024 | 397 | #708 | 0.25 |
| 2023 | 377 | #745 | 0.23 |
| 2022 | 373 | #767 | 0.23 |
| 2021 | 299 | #905 | 0.18 |
| 2020 | 268 | #954 | 0.17 |
| 2019 | 271 | #967 | 0.16 |
| 2018 | 252 | #1,026 | 0.15 |
| 2017 | 269 | #976 | 0.16 |
| 2016 | 225 | #1,127 | 0.13 |
Every recorded year (93)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 196 | #1,248 | 0.11 |
| 2014 | 220 | #1,139 | 0.12 |
| 2013 | 184 | #1,282 | 0.10 |
| 2012 | 145 | #1,526 | 0.08 |
| 2011 | 126 | #1,676 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 124 | #1,698 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 161 | #1,445 | 0.09 |
| 2008 | 143 | #1,590 | 0.08 |
| 2007 | 155 | #1,497 | 0.08 |
| 2006 | 174 | #1,336 | 0.09 |
| 2005 | 177 | #1,268 | 0.10 |
| 2004 | 174 | #1,250 | 0.09 |
| 2003 | 186 | #1,163 | 0.10 |
| 2002 | 221 | #994 | 0.12 |
| 2001 | 226 | #961 | 0.13 |
| 2000 | 219 | #965 | 0.12 |
| 1999 | 233 | #904 | 0.13 |
| 1998 | 262 | #812 | 0.15 |
| 1997 | 213 | #932 | 0.12 |
| 1996 | 236 | #844 | 0.13 |
| 1995 | 229 | #854 | 0.13 |
| 1994 | 268 | #767 | 0.15 |
| 1993 | 200 | #943 | 0.11 |
| 1992 | 213 | #916 | 0.12 |
| 1991 | 196 | #960 | 0.10 |
| 1990 | 162 | #1,086 | 0.09 |
| 1989 | 161 | #1,054 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 137 | #1,120 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 112 | #1,259 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 102 | #1,307 | 0.06 |
| 1985 | 87 | #1,438 | 0.05 |
| 1984 | 86 | #1,374 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 66 | #1,677 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 77 | #1,538 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 68 | #1,682 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 39 | #2,447 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 41 | #2,313 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 26 | #3,029 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 23 | #3,304 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 10 | #5,708 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 12 | #4,941 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 15 | #4,087 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 5 | #8,806 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,552 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 5 | #8,708 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 9 | #5,514 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,163 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 7 | #5,810 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 6 | #6,011 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,639 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,077 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 5 | #6,847 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,368 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 12 | #3,548 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #5,381 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 8 | #4,138 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 5 | #5,474 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 8 | #4,093 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 5 | #4,755 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 6 | #4,201 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 5 | #4,841 | under 0.01 |
| 1933 | 5 | #4,409 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 6 | #4,047 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 7 | #3,880 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,645 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 7 | #3,994 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,462 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 6 | #4,642 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 11 | #2,983 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,613 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 12 | #2,827 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 12 | #2,779 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 15 | #2,296 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 8 | #3,604 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 11 | #2,749 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 13 | #2,410 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 13 | #2,294 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,393 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,212 | 0.01 |
| 1911 | 6 | #2,278 | 0.01 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,824 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,027 | 0.02 |
| 1904 | 5 | #1,972 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Emerald a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 10,056 Americans recorded as Emerald, 95% are girls and 5% boys. In 2025 it went to 367 girls and 32 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Emerald: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Emerald, and how old are they?
9,480 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 10,056 Americans ever recorded as Emerald. The median Emerald alive today is 19 years old; half are between 7 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 6,640 people named Emerald (6,319 women and girls, 321 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,416 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 17 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 64 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 205 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,360 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,950 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,890 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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 Emerald born?
The states with the most babies named Emerald are Texas, California and North Carolina, with 33% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 48 | #642 | 1.3× |
| California | 42 | #740 | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 22 | #496 | 1.1× |
| Georgia | 21 | #535 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 18 | #887 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 16 | #494 | 0.4× |
| New York | 14 | #1,045 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 10 | #906 | 0.5× |
| Tennessee | 10 | #722 | 0.8× |
| Missouri | 10 | #567 | 0.6× |
Where Emerald is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Emerald is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 1.3 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 Emerald 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 Emerald
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 Emerald and names like it
- Compare Emerald and GemaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sEmerald peaked in 2024.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Emerald since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Emerald: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Emerald.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Emerald alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with EMost given first.