Old German ermen, "whole, universal" — whole; universal. Carried to England by Emma of Normandy, queen consort to two kings, and revived by Jane Austen's 1815 novel.
Emma ranks 3rd among American girls in 2025, with 12,768 born that year. Its best year was 2003, when 22,756 babies were given the name, ranking 2nd. The typical living American called Emma is about 17 years old today. It is relatively most common in District of Columbia, where it accounts for 0.79% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.