How Many People Are Named Emil?
An estimated 10,434 people in the United States have the first name Emil. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 50 years old, and Emil peaked in popularity in 1917 with 1,012 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Emil as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Emil paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Emil is overwhelmingly male, 134 female births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
10,434
About 1 in 32,850 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Male
99.6% confidence
Average Age
50
years old
Peak Year
1917
1,012 births
Total Registered
33,073
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Emil
Emil is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 33,073 total births registered, 99.6% were male.
Emil as a male name
Ranked #1,248 in 2024
158 male births in 2024
Peak: 1917 (1,004 births)
Emil as a female name
Ranked #6,643 in 1960
5 female births in 1960
Peak: 1915 (8 births)
Emil: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Emil span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1920s, when 7,238 babies were registered. Emil has declined significantly from its peak in the 1920s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Emil by Decade
How has Emil tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,434 | 1,434 | 0 | |
| 1890s | 1,443 | 1,438 | 5 | |
| 1900s | 1,319 | 1,319 | 0 | |
| 1910s | 6,735 | 6,701 | 34 | |
| 1920s | 7,238 | 7,170 | 68 | |
| 1930s | 3,540 | 3,518 | 22 | |
| 1940s | 2,498 | 2,498 | 0 | |
| 1950s | 1,860 | 1,860 | 0 | |
| 1960s | 1,272 | 1,267 | 5 | |
| 1970s | 963 | 963 | 0 | |
| 1980s | 809 | 809 | 0 | |
| 1990s | 837 | 837 | 0 | |
| 2000s | 1,047 | 1,047 | 0 | |
| 2010s | 1,241 | 1,241 | 0 | |
| 2020s | 837 | 837 | 0 | |
Emil by State
Birth registrations for Emil span all 40 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania. The lowest are in Georgia, District of Columbia, Alabama. On average, about 596 Emils were registered per state.
Emil + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Emil as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Emil
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
Emil: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emil?
We estimate approximately 10,434 people named Emil are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 32,850 Americans share this first name.
Is Emil a common name?
Emil is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 97.8% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 33,073 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Emil most popular?
Emil reached peak popularity in 1917, when 1,012 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Emil is approximately 50 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Emil a male name?
Emil is predominantly male. 99.6% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Emil Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Emil Smith, Emil Johnson, Emil Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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