Emil
Emil was given to 155 boys in 2025, #1,269 among boys’ names; 33,230 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,410 Americans named Emil and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (28% of everyone recorded); the median is 45 years old and half are between 17 and 69.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Emil by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Emil mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Emil is “a male given name from Latin.” Its etymology gives the sense “rival” (aemulus).
From German Emil, from Latin Aemilius, a Roman family name possibly from aemulus (“rival”). Cognate with French Émile.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Emil?
#1,269 among boys’ names, 2025
Emil rose from #1,371 in 2015 to #1,269 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 66.3 to 90.7 per million.
1,012 babies in 1917, the peak
Emil peaked in 1917, when 1,012 babies were given it (1,004 boys, #137 among boys’ names). The 155 births of 2025 are 15% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 155 | #1,269 | 0.09 |
| 2024 | 159 | #1,245 | 0.09 |
| 2023 | 187 | #1,131 | 0.11 |
| 2022 | 188 | #1,126 | 0.11 |
| 2021 | 152 | #1,258 | 0.09 |
| 2020 | 152 | #1,235 | 0.09 |
| 2019 | 155 | #1,227 | 0.09 |
| 2018 | 129 | #1,369 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 144 | #1,267 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 125 | #1,405 | 0.07 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 127 | #1,371 | 0.07 |
| 2014 | 120 | #1,403 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 115 | #1,437 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 114 | #1,449 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 106 | #1,512 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 106 | #1,528 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 147 | #1,223 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 134 | #1,296 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 113 | #1,435 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 101 | #1,502 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 92 | #1,536 | 0.05 |
| 2004 | 79 | #1,632 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 86 | #1,498 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 97 | #1,359 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 109 | #1,221 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 89 | #1,399 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 99 | #1,250 | 0.05 |
| 1998 | 69 | #1,544 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 63 | #1,607 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 73 | #1,424 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 90 | #1,218 | 0.05 |
| 1994 | 95 | #1,167 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 71 | #1,356 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 104 | #1,075 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 91 | #1,151 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 82 | #1,203 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 76 | #1,226 | 0.04 |
| 1988 | 73 | #1,177 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 89 | #1,005 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 63 | #1,205 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 79 | #1,034 | 0.04 |
| 1984 | 84 | #969 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 98 | #890 | 0.05 |
| 1982 | 82 | #996 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 77 | #1,038 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 89 | #955 | 0.05 |
| 1979 | 94 | #903 | 0.05 |
| 1978 | 89 | #917 | 0.05 |
| 1977 | 82 | #944 | 0.05 |
| 1976 | 89 | #885 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 98 | #838 | 0.06 |
| 1974 | 92 | #838 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 102 | #786 | 0.07 |
| 1972 | 92 | #837 | 0.06 |
| 1971 | 101 | #800 | 0.06 |
| 1970 | 124 | #741 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 109 | #750 | 0.06 |
| 1968 | 97 | #751 | 0.06 |
| 1967 | 102 | #731 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 99 | #741 | 0.06 |
| 1965 | 146 | #628 | 0.08 |
| 1964 | 132 | #670 | 0.07 |
| 1963 | 125 | #692 | 0.06 |
| 1962 | 147 | #638 | 0.07 |
| 1961 | 148 | #644 | 0.07 |
| 1960 | 161 | #615 | 0.08 |
| 1959 | 161 | #608 | 0.08 |
| 1958 | 170 | #593 | 0.08 |
| 1957 | 188 | #561 | 0.09 |
| 1956 | 173 | #578 | 0.08 |
| 1955 | 179 | #550 | 0.09 |
| 1954 | 179 | #541 | 0.09 |
| 1953 | 184 | #518 | 0.09 |
| 1952 | 205 | #491 | 0.11 |
| 1951 | 215 | #464 | 0.11 |
| 1950 | 207 | #462 | 0.12 |
| 1949 | 217 | #453 | 0.12 |
| 1948 | 251 | #424 | 0.14 |
| 1947 | 258 | #424 | 0.14 |
| 1946 | 246 | #407 | 0.15 |
| 1945 | 223 | #403 | 0.17 |
| 1944 | 222 | #401 | 0.16 |
| 1943 | 262 | #379 | 0.18 |
| 1942 | 259 | #376 | 0.19 |
| 1941 | 297 | #334 | 0.24 |
| 1940 | 263 | #349 | 0.23 |
| 1939 | 275 | #338 | 0.25 |
| 1938 | 322 | #303 | 0.29 |
| 1937 | 275 | #327 | 0.26 |
| 1936 | 273 | #331 | 0.26 |
| 1935 | 320 | #304 | 0.31 |
| 1934 | 335 | #297 | 0.32 |
| 1933 | 370 | #274 | 0.37 |
| 1932 | 392 | #276 | 0.38 |
| 1931 | 447 | #254 | 0.43 |
| 1930 | 509 | #246 | 0.46 |
| 1929 | 498 | #248 | 0.46 |
| 1928 | 582 | #225 | 0.53 |
| 1927 | 620 | #215 | 0.55 |
| 1926 | 682 | #203 | 0.61 |
| 1925 | 722 | #191 | 0.65 |
| 1924 | 790 | #181 | 0.70 |
| 1923 | 798 | #175 | 0.73 |
| 1922 | 824 | #173 | 0.76 |
| 1921 | 819 | #177 | 0.74 |
| 1920 | 835 | #167 | 0.78 |
| 1919 | 847 | #159 | 0.86 |
| 1918 | 912 | #154 | 0.90 |
| 1917 | 1,004 | #137 | 1.1 |
| 1916 | 970 | #140 | 1.1 |
| 1915 | 918 | #138 | 1.1 |
| 1914 | 684 | #143 | 1.0 |
| 1913 | 551 | #143 | 1.1 |
| 1912 | 407 | #146 | 0.95 |
| 1911 | 214 | #156 | 0.95 |
| 1910 | 194 | #161 | 1.0 |
| 1909 | 153 | #162 | 0.93 |
| 1908 | 141 | #165 | 0.91 |
| 1907 | 150 | #150 | 1.0 |
| 1906 | 139 | #148 | 1.0 |
| 1905 | 122 | #164 | 0.92 |
| 1904 | 101 | #181 | 0.79 |
| 1903 | 128 | #145 | 1.1 |
| 1902 | 136 | #140 | 1.1 |
| 1901 | 122 | #136 | 1.1 |
| 1900 | 127 | #165 | 0.84 |
| 1899 | 128 | #124 | 1.2 |
| 1898 | 158 | #116 | 1.3 |
| 1897 | 131 | #126 | 1.2 |
| 1896 | 143 | #125 | 1.2 |
| 1895 | 136 | #122 | 1.2 |
| 1894 | 128 | #123 | 1.1 |
| 1893 | 159 | #110 | 1.4 |
| 1892 | 157 | #112 | 1.3 |
| 1891 | 133 | #110 | 1.3 |
| 1890 | 165 | #101 | 1.5 |
| 1889 | 146 | #109 | 1.3 |
| 1888 | 142 | #116 | 1.2 |
| 1887 | 146 | #100 | 1.4 |
| 1886 | 127 | #116 | 1.1 |
| 1885 | 138 | #105 | 1.3 |
| 1884 | 175 | #91 | 1.5 |
| 1883 | 139 | #99 | 1.3 |
| 1882 | 157 | #92 | 1.4 |
| 1881 | 145 | #90 | 1.4 |
| 1880 | 119 | #113 | 1.1 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Emil a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Emil has been given almost only to boys: 134 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Emil: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Emil, and how old are they?
9,410 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 28% of the 33,230 Americans ever recorded as Emil. The median Emil alive today is 45 years old; half are between 17 and 69.
The 2020 Census counted 13,668 people named Emil (275 women and girls, 13,393 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 9,952 born in the U.S. The Census count is 37% above 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 973 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,280 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,410 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,260 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,580 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,890 |
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 Emil born?
The states with the most babies named Emil are New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania, with 37% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 3,657 | #854 | 1.4× |
| Illinois | 2,555 | #1,349 | 1.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 2,554 | #584 | 1.2× |
| New Jersey | 2,001 | #616 | 2.2× |
| California | 1,682 | #888 | 1.0× |
| Texas | 1,544 | #1,687 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 1,435 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Wisconsin | 1,206 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Michigan | 1,135 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Minnesota | 776 | not ranked | 1.2× |
Where Emil is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Emil is most over-represented in North Dakota: since 1910 it was given 2.8 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 boys’ 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 Emil with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 33,340 babies since 1880, Emil is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 155 of their 162 babies (96%), again the most given.
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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Emil
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 Emil and names like it
- Compare Emil and EmielBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sEmil peaked in 1917.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Emil since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Emil: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1917The year the most babies were named Emil.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Emil alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with EMost given first.