girl's name
Emilie
ay-mee-LEE
- Origin Latin
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 244,748
Scotland
#180
2024 births
Emilie is a girl's name, the French and Danish form of Latin Aemilia, usually given as rival. France holds nearly all of its 231,118 recorded births, yet its highest current rank is Scotland at 180th, ahead of France at 313th.
- Emilie is a name of Latin origin.
- Peaked in France in 1980, when 11,885 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 3,368 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Emilie over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 10,555 |
| 1910s | 6,650 |
| 1920s | 4,780 |
| 1930s | 1,995 |
| 1940s | 865 |
| 1950s | 580 |
| 1960s | 540 |
| 1970s | 13,700 |
| 1980s | 95,085 |
| 1990s | 34,950 |
| 2000s | 19,850 |
| 2010s | 7,795 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,205 |
What Emilie means
Emilie is generally given as rival, from a Latin adjective meaning emulous or striving. The Roman family name it comes from may be older than that explanation.
Where Emilie comes from
Emilie is the French form of Aemilia, the feminine of the Roman family name Aemilius. The standard derivation takes it from aemulus, meaning rival or emulous, and that reading has been repeated since antiquity — but Roman gens names frequently predate the Latin words that appear to explain them, and Aemilius may well be Etruscan in origin with the aemulus link supplied later. The name reached modern European use through the eighteenth-century vogue for classical names and stands beside Emily, the English form, and Emilia, the Italian and Latin one. Émilie du Châtelet, who translated Newton into French and whose commentary is still the standard French edition, is the name's most consequential bearer.
Emilie in use
Emilie ranks 180th in Scotland on 23 births, 313th in Northern Ireland and 313th in France on 320, 602nd in England and Wales, 671st in Ireland and 1314th in the United States. It peaked in France in 1980, when 11,885 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. Of 231,118 lifetime births almost all are French, so its highest current rank sitting in Scotland rather than France reflects how far it has fallen at home.
How popular is Emilie?
In 2025, Emilie was given to 175 babies in France, ranking #313 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Emilie is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
How Emilie is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Émilie | Émilie is Emilie written with an acute accent, used in France, where it ranks #372. | 5,685 |
Names that peaked alongside Emilie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Emilie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Emilie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Emilie
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Emilie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Emilie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Emilie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Emilie
What does the name Emilie mean?
Rival, from the Latin aemulus — though the Roman family name it comes from may predate that explanation.
Is Emilie the same as Emily?
They are the French and English forms of one Latin name. Emilie is also standard in Denmark and Norway.
How do you pronounce Emilie?
ay-mee-LEE in French, with the stress at the end.
How popular is Emilie?
180th in Scotland and 313th in France, down from a French peak of 11,885 births in 1980.
Is Emilie a girl's or a boy's name?
Emilie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Emilie?
Emilie has 3 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Emilie?
Emilie is usually shortened to Emi and Mila.
Is Emilie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Emilie currently ranks #180 in France. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.