MEANING & HISTORY
What does Emily mean?
Emily is the English feminine form of Aemilius, the Roman family name also behind Emil and Emilio. The consulted onomastic account connects Aemilius with Latin aemulus, rival.
Its immediate history is a feminine adaptation of that inherited family name. Chaucer’s Emelye belongs to the medieval literary record of the English form. Emily and Amelia may resemble one another, but Amelia has a different Germanic ancestry and should not supply Emily’s root.
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Tagalog
- /ˈʔemili/Standard-Tagalog
- [ˌʔɛː.mɪˈlɪ]Standard-Tagalog
E · mi · ly3 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
TagalogEtymology & source
Borrowed from English Emily.
a female given name from English
EnglishEtymology & source
English form of Latin Aemilia, a gens name from aemulus (“rival, emulator”).
A female given name from Latin.
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
2
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Emily in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Related forms & spellings
Related forms may have their own language histories. They are not included in this spelling’s PSA count.
Similar names to Emily
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Emil♂From Roman Aemilius, traditionally linked to “rival”
- Emilyn♀Blend involving Emy and Lyn
- Emalyn♀Blend involving Emma and Lyn
- Emelyn♀Historically attested form in the Emmeline family
- Emiko♀Favour + beauty + child in the 恵美子 spelling
- Emilia♀Feminine form of the Roman family name Aemilius
- Emilio♂Italian and Spanish form of Roman Aemilius
- Emoy♂Familiar form of Jeremy
What rhymes with Emily?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Names with a similar written ending
Spelling suggestions; these are not verified phonetic rhymes.
Explore Emily further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wiktionary contributors — Emily (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Emily (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Emily (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.
- Behind the Name — Emil (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.