Explore the Family Name Emily
The meaning of Emily
1. English: habitational name from Emley in Yorkshire, Embley in Northumberland, or Himley in Staffordshire. The Yorkshire name comes from an Old English male personal name, either Ēama or Emma, + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. In the Northumberland name the first element is probably Old English elm ‘elm-tree’, while in the Staffordshire name it is Old English hymele ‘hop (plant)’ + lēah. 2. English: perhaps from the Middle English female personal name Emily (Old French Emilie, Latin Aimilia, from the name of a major Roman patrician family). This origin is uncertain, as its use as a personal name in medieval England is attested only in the doubtful 1316 spelling and in Chaucer’s fictional Emelye in the Knight’s Tale, an Anglicized form of Emilia in Boccaccio’s Teseide. 3. Possibly also an Americanized form of South German and Swiss German Emele.
Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.
How common is the last name Emily in the United States?
Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Emily has seen a slight increase in its popularity ranking from 27,258 in 2000 to 26,727 in 2010, indicating a change of 1.95 percent. The count also increased from 834 to 911 over the same period, which corresponds to a 9.23 percent growth. Despite these changes, the proportion of individuals with the surname Emily per 100k remained constant at 0.31.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #27,258 | #26,727 | 1.95% |
| Count | 834 | 911 | 9.23% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.31 | 0.31 | 0% |
Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Emily
According to the ethnic identity data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the majority of people named Emily identified as White, although this number declined slightly from 89.45 percent in 2000 to 87.60 percent in 2010. During the same period, there was an increase in those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic, by 83.33 percent and 79.33 percent respectively. Those identifying as Black decreased by 21.63 percent. The proportions of individuals identifying as having two or more races and as American Indian and Alaskan Native were suppressed for privacy in the 2010 data.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 89.45% | 87.6% | -2.07% |
| Hispanic | 3% | 5.38% | 79.33% |
| Black | 5.04% | 3.95% | -21.63% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 0.96% | 1.76% | 83.33% |
| Two or More Races | 0.6% | 0% | 0% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0.96% | 0% | 0% |