US baby names · Girls · 1880–2025
Emily: name popularity by year
How often US parents chose Emily for a baby girl, year by year, from Social Security Administration records. When it peaked, how long it stayed in the top 10, and which generation it belongs to.
Emily was one of the 10 most common girls' names in the US in 26 years, between 1991 and 2016, and the #1 name in 12 of them. Births peaked in 1999, when 26,542 baby girls were named Emily, so by peak year it is a Generation Z name.
Emily in the US top 10, by year
Rank among girls' names, #1 at the top. Blank years: outside the top 10. Dashed line: the year with the most babies named Emily (1999).
Top-10 years by generation
| Generation | Years in top 10 | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| Millennials | 6 (1991–1996) | #1 |
| Generation Z | 13 (1997–2009) | #1 |
| Generation Alpha | 7 (2010–2016) | #6 |
Questions people ask
When was the name Emily most popular?
By number of babies, in 1999, when 26,542 girls were given the name. By rank, it was #1 in 12 years and spent 26 years in the top 10.
What generation is the name Emily?
Its peak year, 1999, falls in Generation Z (1997–2009). Its 26 top-10 years fall in: Millennials (6), Generation Z (13), Generation Alpha (7).
How many people have been named Emily?
SSA counted 896,487 girls named Emily born from 1880 to 2025. That is births, not people alive today, and it misses many people born before 1937 who never applied for a Social Security card.
In the top 10 at the same time
Source: US Social Security Administration baby-name data, from Social Security card applications for births in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 1880–2025. Many people born before 1937 never applied for a card, so early years undercount. Spellings are counted separately. We hold each year's top 10 in rank order and each name's peak-year and all-time counts, so the chart shows rank rather than births per year. This page gives no meaning or origin for the name and no estimate of how many people named Emily are alive today.