Emilia

Meaning & origin

Emilia spent a century as the overlooked continental cousin of Emily and Amelia, present in American records since 1880 but never fashionable, until modern parents rediscovered it from the other direction. Rising since 1986 and boosted through the 2010s by Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke, it peaked in 2020 and stood 45th among American girls in 2025, given to roughly 1 in 344 newborns.

Part of its appeal is precisely that it threads a needle: more distinctive than Emily, the era-defining name of the 1990s, yet instantly familiar; more Latin warmth than Amelia while sharing its antique polish. The name also travels exceptionally well, being standard in Italian, Spanish, and much of northern and eastern Europe, with Shakespearean credentials on top.

Its American footprint is scattered rather than regional, Wyoming, Delaware, and the District of Columbia index highest, which suggests a name spreading through broad taste rather than any single community, the usual signature of a durable riser rather than a spike.

Emilia descends from Aemilia, the feminine form of Aemilius, the name of one of ancient Rome's great patrician families. The family name is usually traced to Latin aemulus, "rival" or "striving," though as with many Roman gens names the derivation is probable rather than proven. Emilia has a long literary pedigree, Shakespeare gave the name to Iago's wife in Othello and to a character in The Winter's Tale, and it survives across Italian, Spanish, Polish, and Scandinavian usage. It is frequently confused with Amelia, which reference works treat as a separate name of Germanic origin (from the element amal, "work"), though the two have borrowed from each other for centuries. Present in American data since 1880, Emilia stayed rare until a sharp modern ascent that began in the mid-1980s and accelerated in the 2010s, helped by the visibility of actress Emilia Clarke.

Read more: Emilia on Wikipedia