Emily — #25 US girls' name
890,970 babies named Emily in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 1999. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
More common than 99.9% of names given to girls today.
27% of everyone ever named Emily was born in this single decade.
26,542 babies were named Emily in 1999 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Emily
The Social Security Administration has registered 890,970 babies named Emily between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Emily currently holds the #25 rank among girls for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1999, when 26,542 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Emily performed strongest in the 1990s, accumulating 237,260 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Emily shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in California, which accounts for 97,981 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by Texas and New York. In total, SSA state-level files list Emily in 51 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Emily in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 890,970 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Emily at a glance
Top 100 girls' namePeak year
Current rank
Active since
Emily popularity over time — girls
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2024–1880
- Peak year (1999)
- 26,542
- Annual births at peak — across 145 years of records
Currently a top-25 pick among girls.
890,970 total births across 145 years of SSA records. Peaked in 1999 with 26,542 births in a single year.
Emily popularity over time — boys
1,799 total births recorded since 1896 (Emily as boys' name)
Unisex use remains the minority pattern
The boys' variant of Emily accounts for 0% of total recorded use across both genders.
Emily by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 1990s
- 237,260 births that decade — 27% of Emily's all-time total
Emily decade highlights
- Peak decade 237,260 births
- Runner-up 223,755 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
1990s was Emily's strongest decade
237,260 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 27% of all-time use.
Emily by state
Where Emily concentrates geographically — total births since 1880
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | California | | 97,981 | 11.0% |
| #2 | Texas | | 66,727 | 7.5% |
| #3 | New York | | 59,458 | 6.7% |
| #4 | Pennsylvania | | 42,253 | 4.7% |
| #5 | Illinois | | 40,628 | 4.6% |
| #6 | Ohio | | 38,784 | 4.4% |
| #7 | Florida | | 36,648 | 4.1% |
| #8 | Michigan | | 30,767 | 3.5% |
97,981 of 890,970 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 51 reporting states.
Top 5 states
- California 11.0% of nationwide
- Texas 7.5% of nationwide
- New York 6.7% of nationwide
- Pennsylvania 4.7% of nationwide
- Illinois 4.6% of nationwide
Recorded in 51 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
California accounts for 11.0% of all recorded births nationwide — a relatively diffuse profile for this name.
Emily appears in 51 states. Explore state details →
Frequently Asked Questions
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Keep exploring Emily
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2024 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.