Emily

Emily is a true classic baby name, traditionally used for girls. It's known for its elegant beauty without being too elaborate or in-your-face; the name has origins in French, Latin, German and more, so it can work for babies from a wide variety of cultures. Emily started gaining popularity in the 1960s and peaked in the 1990s but is still holding strong towards the top of the charts — although both Emma and Amelia are more popular as of 2020.

Variations of Emily include Emilie, Emilee, Emilia, Emalee, and Emil (the latter is a great gender-neutral name, too). Parents who love Emily for its vowel sounds, usage of "L" and "Y," and musicality may also like: Aili, Aliyah, Annunciata, Arletta, Cantabria, Carolynn, Charlayne, Demi, Edda, Evelina, Lace, Macie, Marlene, Melva, Merry, Petra, Roxane, Trista, Verbane, or Vinny.

Emily Dickinson is widely accepted as the most famous Emily, but her name legacy is holding strong into the 2020s with these famous Emilys of the silver screen: Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (yes, she's our favorite too), Emily VanCamp, Emily Deschanel, Emily Ratajkowski, Emily Osment, Emily Browning, Emily Mortimer, Emily Procter.

As with plenty of classic girls names, you can find Emily in many lovely works of literature of music, such as Simon and Garfunkel's "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her" and Lucy Maud Montgomery's Emily series (which she wrote after her iconic 'Anne of Green Gables' series).

Quotes about Emily:

“As she walked along she dramatized the night. There was about it a wild, lawless charm that appealed to a certain wild, lawless strain hidden deep in Emily’s nature—the strain of the gypsy and the poet, the genius and the fool.”
― Lucy Maud Montgomery, 'Emily Climbs'

"Emily arrived in the cold, grey hours of the newborn year, between the breathing dark and the pearl, winter light. A child of the dawn, before dawn broke.”
― Debi Cimo, 'Delicate: The Alchemy of Emily Greyson'