Name profile

Emil

A name of Roman family origin meaning "rival".

OriginRoman family
PronunciationSwedish /ˈeː.mɪl/; German /ˈeː.miːl/; Romanian /e.ˈmil/; Czech /ˈɛ.mɪl/; Slovak /ˈɛ.mil/; Russian /ɛ.ˈmʲilʲ/; Macedonian /ˈɛ.miɫ/; English /ə.ˈmil/; English /ˈɛm.ɪl/
Usage languagesBulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Swedish, Ukrainian
US rank (2025)#1,267

Meaning and history

Emil comes from the Roman family name Aemilius, derived from the Latin aemulus, meaning “rival.” A notable bearer was the Czech long-distance runner Emil Zátopek (1922–2000).

Popularity over timeUS births · boys
20062006: 101 births, rank #1,501
2007: 113 births, rank #1,433
2008: 134 births, rank #1,294
2009: 147 births, rank #1,218
2010: 106 births, rank #1,525
20112011: 106 births, rank #1,510
2012: 114 births, rank #1,448
2013: 115 births, rank #1,433
2014: 120 births, rank #1,402
2015: 127 births, rank #1,369
20162016: 125 births, rank #1,399
2017: 144 births, rank #1,264
2018: 129 births, rank #1,364
2019: 155 births, rank #1,226
2020: 152 births, rank #1,233
20212021: 152 births, rank #1,253
2022: 188 births, rank #1,125
2023: 187 births, rank #1,128
2024: 159 births, rank #1,243
20252025: 155 births, rank #1,267

Emil moved from #890 to #970 for boys between 1983 and 1984. Its highest annual birth count came in 1917, with 1,004 births.