Emil
From the Latin *aemulus*, a rival or someone striving to match another: rival and eager. Around 29,000 Polish men carry it, and it's a name still given at full pace today, holding its place on the register rather than fading.
Emil Pronunciation
Emil is pronounced E-meel (/ˈɛmil/).
What Emil means
Where Emil comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Emil comes from the Latin Aemilius, the name of an old Roman clan, the gens Aemilia. Scholars link it to the Latin word aemulus, meaning a rival or someone who strives to match another. That is where the short meaning, rival and eager, rywalizujący and gorliwy, has its root.
The name traveled well. Jean-Jacques Rousseau gave it to the pupil in his 1762 book on education, Émile. In 1929 Erich Kästner wrote Emil und die Detektive, and Astrid Lindgren later put the name on her mischievous farm boy in Emil i Lönneberga. A boy called Emil keeps good company.
In Poland the name holds a steady place on the register. Read out during a school roll call, it sits plainly among the Jakubs and Filips. Its imieniny falls most often on 22 May. The feminine variant Emilia grew far more common, and the form Emili also appears, though both go back to the same Roman house that handed down aemulus, the striver.
How many people are named Emil
1 in 728 men in Poland is named Emil. 29,344 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #243 among male names.
Emil's popularity over time
398 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #127 among newborns. It has been stable for a decade.
Where Emil is most popular
Emil is most popular in Opole, 64% above the national average (99 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Subcarpathian (+64%) and Lesser Poland (+50%). It is least common in Warmian-Masurian and Łódź, 40% and 38% below average respectively.
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Opole99 boys born+64%
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Subcarpathian259 boys born+64%
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Lesser Poland445 boys born+50%
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Silesian364 boys born+22%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian164 boys born+15%
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Lubusz66 boys born+2%
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Lower Silesian206 boys born0%
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West Pomeranian103 boys born−7%
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Greater Poland256 boys born−9%
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Podlaskie77 boys born−10%
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Świętokrzyskie61 boys born−16%
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Lublin106 boys born−21%
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Pomeranian147 boys born−24%
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Masovian313 boys born−32%
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Łódź102 boys born−38%
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Warmian-Masurian56 boys born−40%
Emil as a middle name
Emil is a first name for 29,344 men in Poland and a middle name for another 12,312, a 70/30 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 98th, between Lucjan (13,321) and Alojzy (11,470).
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96
13,343Oskar
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97
13,321Lucjan
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9812,312Emil
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99
11,470Alojzy
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100
11,442Błażej
When Emil celebrates name day
Emil appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 22 May.