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Jael vs Emily

How Jael and Emily compare across 146 years of US Social Security Administration baby-name records — popularity history, peak years, current rank, and which name overtook which.

Open Name Tournament

Jael

Female · Hebrew

Meaning: Goat

Emily

Female · German

Meaning: "Industrious, Eager"

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Jael (boys) vs Emily (girls), from US Social Security Administration national records.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Names appearing fewer than 5 times per year are suppressed by SSA.

Quick Stats

Metric Jael Emily
Peak year (most US births) 2012 — 202 boys 1999 — 26,542 girls
Peak rank #988 #1
Most recent rank (2012) #988 (202 births) #34 (5,451 births)
Total US births since 1880 202 807,425
Last 10 years (2003–2012) 202 75,367

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Emily reached 26,542 US births in 1999 — 26,340 more than Jael's peak count.

Strongest States — Last 10 Years

States where each name ranked highest, from SSA's state-level dataset. Lower average rank = name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name list.

Jael — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 New Jersey #676 71
2 New York #713 157
3 Massachusetts #718 17
4 Arizona #764 29
5 Pennsylvania #816 40

Emily — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 California #10 12,185
2 New Jersey #13 2,319
3 Florida #13 4,899
4 Texas #14 8,237
5 New York #15 4,529

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Data & methodology

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby names dataset 1880–2025 (CC0 public domain). Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a given year are suppressed by SSA. State-level coverage runs 1910–2025. Crossover detection compares annual birth counts (not ranks) for each year both names appear. Methodology: see full notes. More comparisons →