Name Emily Origin, meaning, pronunciation & popularity of the name Emily

Q: What does the name Emily mean?

Emily means 'of the Aemilius family' and 'rival' or 'eager' (from Latin 'aemulus').

What is the origin of the name Emily?

Emily is an English feminine form of the name Emil, that derived from the Latin surname Aemilius, one of the most influential Patrician families in the Roman Empire.

What does the name Emily mean?

Emily means “of the Aemilius family” and “rival” or “eager” (from Latin “aemulus”).

Names like Emily

There are different ways of spelling Emily and similar variants of the name such as Emeli, Emely, Emilee, Emilie, Emmelie und Emmely. There are also other rarer versions like Aemilia, Aemiliana, Aemilie und Emiliea.
Popular nicknames are Amy, Elli, Emi, Emy, Em, Ems, Lilli, Lilly, Melly, Milli und Milly.

Names that fit well with Emily

Parents like to pair the name Emily with a middle name. Popular middle names are Luna, Margaret, Maribel, Megan or Meghan and Priscilla.

Famous name bearers

Two of the most important and influential Emilys in the history of literature are the British novelist Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848), who wrote the novel “Wuthering Hights” (1847) under her pen name Ellis Bell. As well as the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), whose poem “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” (1891) is considered one of the most important English poems. Her coming of age is currently being portrayed in the tv-show “Dickinson”, in which the actress and musician Hailee Steinfeld (born 1996) plays the role of Emily Dickinson.
Through the reality TV format “Too Hot To Handle” Emily Miller (born 1994) from Great Britain rose to fame. She is a fan favorite of the second installment of the show.
One of the currently most famous Emilys on TV is the British actress Emily Blunt (born 1983), who is well known for her roles in “The Devils wears Prada”, “A Quiet Place”, “Marry Poppins Returns” and “Jungle Cruise”. She is married to the American actor and comedian John Krasinski, with whom she shares her daughters Hazel and Violet.
Since the birth of her son Sylvester Apollo Bear, whom she shares with her husband Sebastian Bear-Mc Clard, Emily Ratajkowski (born 1991) has taken a break from acting and focused on writing her biography, as well as supporting women’s rights world wide.
The actress Emily Deschanel (born 1976) is almost exclusively known as her TV character Dr. Temperance Brennan alias “Bones” from the TV show of the same name. Her sister Zooey Deschanel (born 1980) is an actress as well and most known for her role in the sitcom “New Girl”.
As the TV character Lilly Truscott from the TV show “Hannah Montana” Emily Osment (born 1992) rose to fame. Since then, she acted in over 45 movie and television productions and released three studio albums.
Emily VanCamp (born 1986) is a Canadian actress mostly known for her role of Emily Thorne in the TV show “Revenge”, as well as her character Sharon Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With her husband Josh Bowman, whom she met on the set of “Revenge”, she shares daughter Iris.

Emily in movies and television shows

Emily is a rather popular name among fictitious TV and movie characters. In 2015 the Irish independent drama “My Name Is Emily” premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh on July 7th. The role of the 16-year-old Emily is played by the then 23-year-old actress Evanna Lynch (born 1991) best known for role as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter series.
The popular Netflix show “Emily in Paris” portrays the life of Emily Cooper, played by Lilly Collins (born 1989), who unexpectedly ends up working in Paris with her new boss Sylvie, played by Italian actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (born 1963). Here, she makes friends with the chef Gabriel played by Lucas Bravo (born 1988) and the nanny Mindy Chen played by Ashley Park (born 1991).
Also well-known TV characters are Emily Fields from the “Pretty Little Liars” TV show, Emily Prentiss from the crime series “Criminal Minds”, Emily Gilmore from the hit show “Gilmore Girls”, as well as Emily Junk from the movie “Pitch Perfect 2”.