How Many People Are Named Emily?
An estimated 794,841 people in the United States have the first name Emily, ranking it #40 among all first names. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 29 years old, and Emily peaked in popularity in 1999 with 26,587 births that year. It has a similar number of bearers to Susan (778,536).
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Emily 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 Emily paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Emily is overwhelmingly female, 1,799 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
794,841
About 1 in 431 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Very Common
Predicted Gender
Female
99.8% confidence
Average Age
29
years old
Peak Year
1999
26,587 births
Total Registered
892,769
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Emily
Emily is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 892,769 total births registered, 99.8% were female.
Emily as a male name
Ranked #7,891 in 2024
10 male births in 2024
Peak: 2004 (120 births)
Emily as a female name
Ranked #25 in 2024
5,955 female births in 2024
Peak: 1999 (26,542 births)
Emily: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Emily span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1990s, when 237,644 babies were registered. Emily has declined significantly from its peak in the 1990s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Emily by Decade
How has Emily 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 | 3,368 | 0 | 3,368 | |
| 1890s | 5,481 | 5 | 5,476 | |
| 1900s | 6,423 | 0 | 6,423 | |
| 1910s | 17,086 | 17 | 17,069 | |
| 1920s | 18,807 | 53 | 18,754 | |
| 1930s | 11,969 | 53 | 11,916 | |
| 1940s | 13,442 | 33 | 13,409 | |
| 1950s | 12,854 | 14 | 12,840 | |
| 1960s | 12,339 | 5 | 12,334 | |
| 1970s | 46,991 | 148 | 46,843 | |
| 1980s | 132,297 | 527 | 131,770 | |
| 1990s | 237,644 | 384 | 237,260 | |
| 2000s | 224,148 | 393 | 223,755 | |
| 2010s | 117,757 | 131 | 117,626 | |
| 2020s | 32,163 | 36 | 32,127 | |
Emily by State
Birth registrations for Emily span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, New York. The lowest are in Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii. On average, about 17,149 Emilys were registered per state.
Emily + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Emily as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Emily
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
Emily: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Emily?
We estimate approximately 794,841 people named Emily 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 431 Americans share this first name.
Is Emily a common name?
Emily is classified as "Very Common" and is more popular than 100% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 892,769 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Emily most popular?
Emily reached peak popularity in 1999, when 26,587 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Emily is approximately 29 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Emily a female name?
Emily is predominantly female. 99.8% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Emily Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Emily Smith, Emily Johnson, Emily 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.
Search for a full name combination
How Many of Me