Emi

Meaning: Varies by kanji: for example 恵美 'blessing + beauty' or 笑 'smile'
Origin: Japanese — Japanese name

Girl's name · #882 in the US (2025) · Trending

Popularity over time

Emi is climbing: on the charts since 1916, it reached #882 in 2025 — its strongest showing yet, with about 300 girls given the name last year. Roughly 4,400 have carried it all-time.

Across the states

In recent years, Emi ran about 18× its national rate in Hawaii—where it ranked #19 in 2025.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 15 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

See how Emi ranks in other countries and regions.

#526 in Poland (2025) · #674 in Scotland (2025) · #879 in Belgium (2025) · #885 in Sweden (2025) · #1,010 in France (2025) · #1,078 in Ecuador (2025) · #1,209 in England & Wales (2025) · #1,524 in Switzerland (2025) · #1,371 in Canada (2024).

Famous Emis

Emi Yamamoto — Japanese association football player
Emi Nakajima — Japanese association football player
Emi Shinohara — Japanese voice actress (1963–2024)
Emi Takei — Japanese actress and model
Emi Wada — Japanese costume designer (1937–2021)

In stories & tradition

Emi Isuzu — Tenjho Tenge (manga)
Emi Namba^ja — The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls (video game)

What Emis become

Among 275 notable people named Emi:

Entertainers appear 3.59× more often than among typical names — e.g. Emi Shinohara, Japanese voice actress (1963–2024).

Spellings & nicknames

Together with its spelling variants Emmy (#445), Emmie (#695), and Emmi (#1669), Emi would rank around #200 with about 1,500 births last year — the newborns split about 45/27/20/8 across Emmy, Emmie, Emi, and Emmi.

Similar names: Yuna · Ema · Mei · Kiyomi · Nami · Rumi

Browse more girl names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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