Emil

Spellings & scripts●(measured from records)

Locally spelled Emile in FR France.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

Other names spelled this way◐(inferred from the name graph)

Emil is also recorded as 9 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Russian given name99 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Ukraine

  Languages: Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian

  Also written Эмиль, Емил, Еміль, Эмил, Emil'

• Finnish given name6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Sweden, Finland, United States, Latvia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Emil', Émil

• Spanish given name28 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, France, Romania

  Languages: Spanish, Romanian, French

  Also written Émil, Emil', Emíl, Emĩl, Èmìl

• Hungarian given name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Switzerland, United States, Romania

  Also written Emil', Émil

• a separate name5 spellings in the group

  Also written Émil, Emīl, Ėmil, Èmil

• Indonesian given name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, United States

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Emil'

• a separate given name8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Norway, Sweden

  Also written Émil, Émïl, Èmìl, Emìl, E̶m̶i̶l̶

• Swahili given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Tanzania, South Africa

  Also written Emil'

• Korean given name7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, South Korea, United Kingdom, Sweden

  Also written Emile, Émile, Èmile, 에밀, Émil

67 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●(measured from records)

Emil is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• German form of French Emile (see French supplement). Emma @ See main dictionary.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In German, im 18. Jh. aus dem Französischen entlehnter, im 19. Jh. überaus beliebter männl. Vom., der auf lat. Aemilius, einen altrömischen Geschlechtemamen, zurück­ geht. Zum Aufkommen des Vornamens in

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• German and Scandinavian: from the Latin name Aemilius (see EMILY ). Cognates: French: Émile. Italian, Spanish, Portuguese: Emilio .

  as a word

• In Romanian, a male given name from Latin, equivalent to English Emil — famously held by

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Serbo-Croatian, »objekt uz učiniti bogu«

  as a word·Skok, Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (1971-74)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• Emil Kocherb. 1841CHsurgeon, laureate of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Medicine (1841-1917)
• Hermann Emil Fischerb. 1852DEGerman chemist (1852–1919)
• Emil Adolf von Behringb. 1854DEGerman physiologist who received the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901 for his discovery of a diphtheria antitoxin
• Max Weberb. 1864DEnot in their usual nameGerman sociologist, philosopher, and political economist (1864–1920)
• Emil Noldeb. 1867DEGerman artist (1867–1956)
• Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheimb. 1867FIFinnish military leader and statesman (1867–1951)
• Otto Hahnb. 1879DEnot in their usual nameGerman chemist and physicist (1879-1968)
• Emil Janningsb. 1884ATGerman actor (1884-1950)
• Martin Niemöllerb. 1892DEnot in their usual nameGerman theologian (1892–1984)
• Ludwig Göranssonb. 1984SEnot in their usual nameSwedish musician and composer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

How to address them○(machine-generated)

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Evidence●(measured from records)

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

In which country does Emil have the most bearers?

In Sweden, the national register counted about 58 thousand people named Emil, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled emil.

Where is Emil most common?

Emil is densest in Sweden, where the national register counts about 1 in 177 people carrying it.

How do you pronounce Emil?

A machine transcription gives /ɛmʲɪɫ/ (IPA) for English.

What does the name Emil mean, and where does it come from?

from Emil < Latin Aemilius, a Roman family name Recorded by Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung.

Is Emil a male or female name?

Emil is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

How common is the name Emil?

In Sweden, the national register counted 57,610 people named Emil, about 1 in 177 residents.

How common is Emil compared with other names?

In Sweden, Emil is the 69th most common given name of 45,482 given names recorded there.

What are other forms of the name Emil?

In the etymology graph, Emilio, Emile and Emiel are forms of the same name in other languages.