Humanverse

Emelin vs Emerald

American parents have registered 10,056 Emeralds since 1880, against 854 Emelins. Emerald is still ahead, with 399 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Emelin against Emerald, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Emelin Emerald

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

Emerald has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1904 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2008, when Emelin had 54 and Emerald had 149.

Side by side

  Emelin Emerald
Total US births 85410,056
Most in one year 62423
Babies in 2025 14399
Estimated living today 8509,500
Median age today 1819
Peak year 20062024
Best rank 2,815th girls708th girls
Rank in 2025 7,491st741st
First recorded 19911904
Girls / boys 854 / 09,518 / 538

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.

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: Emelin and Emerald.