Emil
Boy nameEmil has been given to 33,230 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It peaked in 1917.
Meaning & origin
From German Emil, from Latin Aemilius, a Roman family name possibly from aemulus (“rival”). Cognate with French Émile.
Origin: Latin
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Popularity over time births per year, 1880–2025
Total babies
33,230
Peak year
1917 (1,012 babies)
Rank in 2025
Below top 1000
First recorded
1880
10-year trend
▲ +22%
Gender split
0% girls / 100% boys
Famous people named Emil
Hermann Emil Fischer
German chemist (1852–1919)
Emil von Behring
German physiologist who received the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901 for his discovery of a diphtheria
Emil Cioran
Romanian-French philosopher and essayist (1911–1995)
Emil Theodor Kocher
Surgeon, laureate of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Medicine (1841-1917)
Notability data from Wikidata (CC0).
Names with a similar vibe
Same primary gender, peaked around the same years, and roughly as common as Emil.
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