Emilia
Latin at root, from a name meaning rival or eager to match others, read today as ambitious. It found its stride in the 2010s and has held steady since, common enough that you almost certainly know one.
Emilia Pronunciation
Emilia is pronounced e-MEEL-yah (/ɛˈmilja/).
What Emilia means
Where Emilia comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Emilia comes from Latin. It descends from Aemilius, the name of an old Roman clan, the gens Aemilia, which counted consuls and generals among its members. Behind that family name stands the word aemulus, meaning a rival or one who emulates. The short sense given to Emilia, rival and emulating, comes straight from there.
The Aemilii left their mark on the map. They gave their name to the Via Aemilia, a Roman road built in 187 BC, and that road still names the region of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. So the sound belonged to a highway and a bloodline before it belonged to any child.
In a Polish class register, Emilia sits close to its variant Emili and its masculine cousin Emil. The Polish reading, rywalizująca and ambitna, holds onto that old competitive streak. The meaning has not softened. A name born from rivalry still means rivalry.
When Emilia celebrates name day
Emilia appears 6 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 30 June.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Emilia
1 in 138 women in Poland is named Emilia. 163,330 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #90 among female names.
Emilia's popularity over time
2,556 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #22 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2001.
Where parents choose Emilia
Emilia is most popular in Lesser Poland, 58% above the national average (3,709 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+57%) and Subcarpathian (+51%). It is least common in Warmian-Masurian and Łódź, 47% and 45% below average respectively.
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Lesser Poland
+58%1 in 61 babies
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Silesian
+57%1 in 61 babies
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Subcarpathian
+51%1 in 64 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
−47%1 in 180 babies
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Łódź
−45%1 in 174 babies
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Podlaskie
−41%1 in 162 babies
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Lesser Poland+58% 3,709 born1 in 61 babies+58%
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Silesian+57% 3,704 born1 in 61 babies+57%
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Subcarpathian+51% 1,892 born1 in 64 babies+51%
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Opole+47% 704 born1 in 65 babies+47%
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Lower Silesian+1% 1,645 born1 in 96 babies+1%
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Lubusz−3% 497 born1 in 100 babies−3%
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Lublin−11% 952 born1 in 108 babies−11%
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Holy Cross−13% 499 born1 in 111 babies−13%
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Greater Poland−18% 1,833 born1 in 117 babies−18%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−20% 911 born1 in 120 babies−20%
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Pomeranian−21% 1,199 born1 in 123 babies−21%
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Masovian−27% 2,694 born1 in 132 babies−27%
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West Pomeranian−28% 628 born1 in 134 babies−28%
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Podlaskie−41% 405 born1 in 162 babies−41%
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Łódź−45% 728 born1 in 174 babies−45%
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Warmian-Masurian−47% 398 born1 in 180 babies−47%
Emilia as a middle name
Emilia is a first name for 163,330 women in Poland and a middle name for another 49,020, a 77/23 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 50th, between Łucja (53,469) and Dominika (48,283).
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#48 Wanda56,675
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#49 Łucja53,469
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#50 Emilia49,020
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#51 Dominika48,283
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#52 Zuzanna45,292