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.
When Emil celebrates name day
Emil appears 8 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 22 May.
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 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 parents choose Emil
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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Opole
+64%1 in 466 babies
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Subcarpathian
+64%1 in 466 babies
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Lesser Poland
+50%1 in 510 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
−40%1 in 1,282 babies
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Łódź
−38%1 in 1,242 babies
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Masovian
−32%1 in 1,132 babies
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Opole+64% 99 born1 in 466 babies+64%
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Subcarpathian+64% 259 born1 in 466 babies+64%
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Lesser Poland+50% 445 born1 in 510 babies+50%
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Silesian+22% 364 born1 in 625 babies+22%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian+15% 164 born1 in 667 babies+15%
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Lubusz+2% 66 born1 in 752 babies+2%
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Lower Silesian±0% 206 born1 in 763 babies±0%
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West Pomeranian−7% 103 born1 in 820 babies−7%
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Greater Poland−9% 256 born1 in 841 babies−9%
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Podlaskie−10% 77 born1 in 854 babies−10%
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Holy Cross−16% 61 born1 in 909 babies−16%
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Lublin−21% 106 born1 in 969 babies−21%
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Pomeranian−24% 147 born1 in 1,002 babies−24%
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Masovian−32% 313 born1 in 1,132 babies−32%
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Łódź−38% 102 born1 in 1,242 babies−38%
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Warmian-Masurian−40% 56 born1 in 1,282 babies−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 Oskar13,343
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#97 Lucjan13,321
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#98 Emil12,312
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#99 Alojzy11,470
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#100 Błażej11,442