Humanverse

Emelia vs Emersen

American parents have registered 14,028 Emelias since 1880, against 1,175 Emersens. Emelia is still ahead, with 488 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Emelia against Emersen, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Emelia Emersen

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Emelia has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2007, when Emelia had 222 and Emersen had 55.

Side by side

  Emelia Emersen
Total US births 14,0281,175
Most in one year 70168
Babies in 2025 48846
Estimated living today 12,0001,200
Median age today 1012
Peak year 20192008
Best rank 443rd girls2,887th girls
Rank in 2025 601st3,975th
First recorded 18801998
Girls / boys 14,028 / 01,039 / 136

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Emersens alive today are over 12; half the Emelias are over 10. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Emelia and Emersen.