Emma
- Pronunciation
- [Eh-mah]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Whole: Complete. Universal
- Origin
- German
About the Name Emma
Emma originates from the Old Germanic ermen meaning "whole" or "universal" — a root that appears in older long names like Ermintrude and Ermengarde, of which Emma was historically a short form. By the late Middle Ages Emma had become a standalone name in its own right and entered the English aristocratic register through Queen Emma of Normandy (c. 985–1052), wife to two English kings and mother to Edward the Confessor.
The name had a long quiet stretch through the 17th–18th centuries before its 19th-century revival. Jane Austen's novel Emma (1815), centered on its self-confident, slightly meddlesome heroine Emma Woodhouse, anchored the name in literary memory and helped seed its later resurgence. The modern boom began in the late 1990s; Emma was the US #1 girls' name multiple times in the 2010s and remains in the top 5.
Twenty-first-century associations are dominated by actresses Emma Watson (the Harry Potter films), Emma Stone, and Emma Thompson; earlier, anarchist political philosopher Emma Goldman gave the name a sharper, intellectual edge. Emma's enduring appeal is a kind of friendly classicism — instantly readable, no spelling debate, warm rather than formal. Common nicknames Em and Emmy stay close to the original; the longer formal-name extensions Emmaline and Emmeline have small but loyal followings, and direct variants include the Spanish and Italian Ema and German Emma (unchanged).
By Marvin Tang. Popularity figures use an imported selection of SSA records; SSA does not supply name meanings or etymologies. Editorial references, where available, are listed with the name explanation. Sources and coverage.
Quick Facts About Emma
US Popularity History (1880–2025)
Annual imported US counts for Emma by recorded sex, from US Social Security Administration records. Highest count in the imported records: 2003 with 22,719 girls named Emma (girl rank #2 that year).
Latest imported observation: in 2025, ranked #3 for girls (12,754 imported records). That's 1 places below its 2003 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Coverage: imported US Social Security card-application records, not a complete birth census. Historical coverage is narrower, including top-100 selection before 2000; recent imports also use catalog and rank filters. Missing rows can reflect those filters or source privacy limits and must not be read as zero or fewer than five uses. Spellings and recorded sex are kept separate.
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Look up Emma across states
Compare this exact spelling in one year and recorded sex list. Missing state records remain unknown.
Observed State Ranks for Emma
Average girl-name rank across the same 2016–2025 window, limited to 51 jurisdictions with every year imported. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings. This is an ordinal comparison, not a per-capita rate. States with missing years are excluded. For Emma the lowest observed averages are in Texas, New York, New Jersey.
Lowest observed average rank
| # | State | Avg rank | Imported count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | #1 | 19,437 |
| 2 | New York | #2 | 9,808 |
| 3 | New Jersey | #2 | 4,856 |
| 4 | Arizona | #2 | 3,751 |
| 5 | Florida | #2 | 11,114 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | #2 | 6,003 |
| 7 | Utah | #2 | 2,097 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | #3 | 3,451 |
| 9 | Colorado | #3 | 2,600 |
| 10 | Illinois | #3 | 5,750 |
Highest observed average rank
| # | State | Avg rank | Imported count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont | #7 | 215 |
| 2 | North Dakota | #7 | 429 |
| 3 | West Virginia | #6 | 760 |
| 4 | Mississippi | #6 | 968 |
| 5 | Maine | #6 | 520 |
| 6 | District of Columbia | #6 | 367 |
| 7 | New Hampshire | #5 | 571 |
| 8 | Montana | #5 | 410 |
| 9 | Hawaii | #5 | 435 |
| 10 | New Mexico | #5 | 726 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. Only states with all 10 annual observations for this spelling and recorded sex are compared. Missing states are excluded, not assigned zero. Average rank measures position in state rankings, not a per-capita rate. Local import filters and SSA privacy limits can both create gaps. Coverage and limitations.
Related Forms in This Catalog
Open each form for its own meaning, language history, and exact-spelling usage records.
Famous People Named Emma
3 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Emma.
- Emma Goldman was a political activist known for her contribution to the development of anarchist political philosophy in the 20th century.
- Emma Thompson — Movie Actress (1959)
- Emma Watson — Movie Actress (1990)
Looking for names like Emma?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Emma to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Emma against names with the largest imported counts for girls-name peers (top 8 with every year imported, 2016–2025). Names with missing annual observations are excluded from this comparison.
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