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 Emilia is most popular
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.
-
Lesser Poland3,709 girls born+58%
-
Silesian3,704 girls born+57%
-
Subcarpathian1,892 girls born+51%
-
Opole704 girls born+47%
-
Lower Silesian1,645 girls born+1%
-
Lubusz497 girls born−3%
-
Lublin952 girls born−11%
-
Świętokrzyskie499 girls born−13%
-
Greater Poland1,833 girls born−18%
-
Kuyavian-Pomeranian911 girls born−20%
-
Pomeranian1,199 girls born−21%
-
Masovian2,694 girls born−27%
-
West Pomeranian628 girls born−28%
-
Podlaskie405 girls born−41%
-
Łódź728 girls born−45%
-
Warmian-Masurian398 girls born−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).
-
#48 Wanda56,675
-
#49 Łucja53,469
-
#50 Emilia49,020
-
#51 Dominika48,283
-
#52 Zuzanna45,292