Emilia · Daily fortune

Emilia is a feminine name of Latin origin, used in Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Finnish, Polish, German, Scandinavian, Greek, Bulgarian and English. Behind the Name defines it as the feminine form of Aemilius, the Roman family name behind Emily. Wikipedia adds that Aemilius likely comes from Latin aemulus, "to rival, excel, or emulate", while cautioning that this may be a folk etymology. The name has a literary pedigree: Boccaccio gave it to the love interest of his 14th-century Teseida, and Shakespeare to the wife of Iago in Othello. Parents choose it as a fuller, more European alternative to Emily and Amelia. In 2025 it ranked #45 for girls in the United States.

Behind the Name gives Emilia as the "feminine form of Aemilius (see Emily)", tying it to the ancient Roman family name Aemilius rather than to a vocabulary word. Wikipedia describes Emilia as "a female Italian given name of Latin origin", derived from Aemilia, the feminine of Aemilius, and states that the family name likely comes from the Latin word aemulus, meaning "to rival, excel, or emulate", adding that this connection "may be a folk etymology". The two sources agree on the chain Emilia < Aemilia < Aemilius; only the final step, from the family name to a Latin word, is flagged as uncertain, which is why the confidence is recorded as likely rather than established. Emilia is not related to Amelia, which Wikipedia lists only as a related name, not a source. Behind the Name's Emily entry, to which the Emilia entry points, calls Emily the "English feminine form of Aemilius (see Emil)" and adds that Emily was used by Chaucer in the form Emelye in his 14th-century Knight's Tale, and that Amelia is an unrelated name despite Princess Amelia Sophia (1711–1786) being commonly known as Emily in English. The Emil and Aemilius entries were not in the cache, so Behind the Name's own gloss of the Roman name is not verified here.

Emilia begins as the feminine form of the Roman gens name Aemilius, listed by Behind the Name as Aemilia in Ancient Roman usage. The family of names entered English literature early: Behind the Name's Emily entry notes that Chaucer used the form Emelye in his 14th-century Knight's Tale, and in the same century Boccaccio used Emilia for the love interest in his epic poem Teseida. Shakespeare used Emilia in Othello (1603) for the wife of Iago. Behind the Name adds that Emily was not common in the English-speaking world until after the German House of Hanover came to the British throne in the 18th century, when Princess Amelia Sophia (1711–1786) was commonly known as Emily. Wikipedia's bearers of the Emilia form add an English poet, Emilia Lanier (1569–1645), a Polish patriot, Emilia Plater (1806–1831), and a Spanish writer, Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851–1921). In the United States, Wikipedia records that more than 13,500 girls had been named Emilia between 1880 and 2010, with numbers increasing markedly from 2000; by 2025 the name ranked #45 for girls, while Behind the Name notes that Emily itself was the top girls' name in the United States from 1996 to 2007.

Emilia ranked #45 for girls in the United States in 2025 according to the Social Security Administration. Wikipedia notes that, as of 2010, more than 13,500 girls in the United States had been named Emilia since 1880, with the numbers increasing markedly from the year 2000, and that the name was the 46th most popular given to girls in Canada in 2022. The Canadian figure is quoted from Wikipedia and has not been checked against the primary Canadian data. For context, Behind the Name records that Emily, the English form of the same name, was the highest-ranked girls' name in the United States from 1996 to 2007; Emilia's rise since 2000 overlaps that peak.

English Emilia is /ɪ.ˈmiː.li.ə/ (ih-MEE-lee-ə), four syllables with the stress on the second; Wikipedia gives the respellings "Eh-meal-ya" and "Em-i-lee-a". Behind the Name supplies IPA for Finnish, Polish and Greek, and a respelling for Swedish; the other languages below list local forms only and their pronunciation was not verified in this pass.

Emilia reads as Emily with the volume turned up: the same friendly Em- opening, but a Mediterranean ending that lines it up with Sofia, Olivia and Isabella. It has literary weight from Boccaccio and Shakespeare and modern glamour from actresses such as Emilia Clarke, so it feels both old and current. The nickname set is generous, from the sweet Emmy and Millie to the very modern Mia. It appeals to parents who find Emily too settled and Amelia too popular but want the same warmth.

Emilia has a strong literary record. The bearers below are the ones named in the Behind the Name entry and in the Wikipedia article's headline examples.

Names that share Emilia's Roman root, its Em- sound, or its romantic Latinate style.