Emily

Emily

See also: EMILY and Emilý

English

Etymology

English form of Latin Aemilia, a gens name from aemulus (“rival, or those in the next valley”).

Proper noun

Emily

1. A female given name from Latin.
   • 1380s-1390s, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale

     I am thy mortal foe, and it am I

     That so hot loveth Emily the bright,

     That I would die here present in her sight.

   • 1830 Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Fourth Series: Cottage Names:

     People will please their fancies, and every lady has her favourite names. I myself have several, and they are mostly short and simple. - - - Emily, in which all womanly sweetness seems bound up - perhaps this is the effect of association of ideas - I have known so many charming Emilys

   • 1980, Barbara Pym, A Few Green Leaves, →ISBN, page 8:

     This may have accounted for Emma's Christian name, for it had seemed to Beatrix unfair to call her daughter Emily, a name associated with her grandmother's servants rather than the author of The Wuthering Heights, so Emma had been chosen, perhaps with the hope that some of the qualities possessed by the heroine of the novel might be perpetuated.

   • 2010, Joanne Harris, blueeyedboy, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 102:

     Emily. Em-il-y, three syllables, like a knock on the door of destiny. Such an odd, old-fashioned name, compared to those Kylies and Traceys and Jades — names that reeked of Impulse and grease and stood out in gaudy neon colours — whilst hers was that muted, dusky pink, like bubblegum, like roses —

Usage notes

• Emily has been used as a vernacular form of the Germanic Amelia, up to the nineteenth century.
• Used since the Middle Ages; popular in the 19th century and once again today.

Related terms

• emulate, emulous
• Emil, Emile
• Em, Emme, Emmie, Emmy, Millie, Milly

Translations

given name

Bulgarian: Емилия f (Emilija) Czech: Emílie (cs) f Danish: Emilie Faroese: Emilý f Finnish: Emilia (fi) French: Émilie (fr) Georgian: ემილი (emili) German: Emilie Greek: Αιμιλία (el) (Aimilía) Ancient: Αἰμιλία (Aimilía) Hawaiian: ʻEmelē, ʻEmelia Hebrew: אמילי‎ f (emili) Hungarian: Emília (hu) Icelandic: Emilía (is) f Italian: Emilia (it) Japanese: エミリー (Emirī), エミリア (Emiria) Korean: 에밀리 (Emilli) Latin: Aemilia f Latvian: Emīlija f Lithuanian: Emilija Manx: Aimil f Maori: Emere Norwegian: Emilie (no) Persian: امیلی‎ (Emili) Polish: Emilia (pl) Portuguese: Emília (pt) f Romanian: Emilia Russian: Эмилия (ru) (Emilija) Slovak: Emília Slovene: Emilija Spanish: Emilia (es) f Swedish: Emilia (sv) Thai: เอมิลี่ Ukrainian: Емі́лія (uk) (Emílija)

See also

• Amelia
• Emma

Anagrams

• Elymi, Miley, limey

---

Danish

Proper noun

Emily

1. a female given name, an English type spelling of Emilie

---

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛmɪlɪ]

• Audio (Austria)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: E‧mi‧ly

Proper noun

Emily

1. a female given name from English [in turn from Latin], variant of Emilie

---

Swedish

Proper noun

Emily c (genitive Emilys)

1. a female given name from from English [in turn from French Amélie, in turn from Latin Aemilia], variant of Emelie

---

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English Emily.

Proper noun

Emily

1. a female given name from English