Emma

EM-ah

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The name Emma means “whole, universal.” It comes from the German language tradition.

Emma derives from the Germanic element 'ermen' meaning 'whole' or 'universal.' Jane Austen's 'Emma' helped establish it as a classic, and it has dominated US baby name charts for over two decades, reaching number one.

From the Germanic element ermen or irmin, meaning whole, entire or universal. Emma began as a short form of longer compounds such as Ermintrude and Irmgard rather than as a name in its own right, and the shortened form eventually displaced the originals entirely.

Emma of Normandy, who died in 1052, was queen consort of England twice over — first to Æthelred the Unready and then to Cnut — and mother to two kings, which planted the name firmly in England before the Conquest. Jane Austen's 1815 novel kept it literary, and Emma topped the American charts in 2008 and again from 2014 to 2018.

• Emma Watson (British actress and activist)
• Emma Stone (American actress)
• Emma Thompson (British actress)

Sibling names that share Emma's rhythm and register without echoing it too closely.