Humanverse

Emalee vs Emaline

American parents have registered 3,814 Emalees since 1880, against 1,901 Emalines. But in 2025 it was Emaline that was commoner, 28 babies to 13.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Emalee against Emaline, 1880 to 2025 0 60 120 180 240 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Emalee Emaline

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 111 years in which either name was published, Emaline for 64 years and Emalee for 47 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Emalee Emaline
Total US births 3,8141,901
Most in one year 23673
Babies in 2025 1328
Estimated living today 3,7001,200
Median age today 2012
Peak year 20052016
Best rank 1,027th girls2,479th girls
Rank in 2025 7,885th4,758th
First recorded 19181885
Girls / boys 3,814 / 01,901 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Emalees alive today are over 20; half the Emalines are over 12. That is 8 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Emalee and Emaline.