How popular is the baby name Ema in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Ema.

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Popularity of the baby name Ema


Posts that mention the name Ema

Top baby names in Japan, 2025

Flag of Japan
Flag of Japan

The East Asian island nation of Japan, which welcomes hundreds of thousands of babies every year, doesn’t release official baby name rankings.

But the most popular names of 2025 may have included Sui, Sana, and Ema for girls and Ao, Minato, and Haruto for boys.

How do we know?

Because, every year, two Japanese companies — the Benesse Corporation (which owns pregnancy/childcare brand Tamahiyo) and the Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company — come up with unofficial rankings using their own data.

  • Benesse/Tamahiyo’s rankings account for 166,011 babies born in Japan from January to September, 2025.
  • Meiji Yasuda’s rankings account for 12,505 babies born in Japan from January to September, 2025.

Both companies rank names in two different ways: as they’re written, and as they’re said aloud (because many Japanese names have several possible pronunciations).

So below you’ll find eight sets of rankings. They account for two genders, two sources, and two ways of judging popularity: written vs. readings. (The rankings needed to be turned into images because my blogging software can’t handle Chinese and Japanese characters.)

Girl names

Here are Japan’s top girl names as written, according to both companies:

Top baby names for girls in Japan, 2025

The girl name in the No. 1 spot on both lists is commonly read “Sui” or “Midori.”

(According to Benesse’s data, Sui ranked 95th in 2020, 40th in 2021, 16th in 2022, and 3rd in both 2023 and 2024.)

And here are Japan’s top girl-name readings, according to both companies:

Top baby name readings for girls in Japan, 2025

The top girl-name reading on Benesse’s list is Sana, while the top girl-name reading on Meiji Yasuda’s list is Ema.

Boy names

Here are Japan’s top boy names as written, according to both companies:

Top baby names for boys in Japan, 2025

The top boy name on Benesse’s list is commonly read “Ao,” while the top boy name on Meiji Yasuda’s list is commonly read “Minato” or “So.”

And here are Japan’s top boy-name readings, according to both companies:

Top baby name readings for boys in Japan, 2025

The boy-name reading in the No. 1 spot on both lists is Haruto.

Sources:

Top image: Adapted from Flag of Japan (public domain)

Popular baby names in the Czech Republic, 2024

Flag of the Czech Republic
Flag of the Czech Republic

Last year, the central European country of the Czech Republic welcomed about 84,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Eliška (for the 13th year in a row) and Jakub (for the 14th year in a row).

Here are Czechia’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Eliška
  2. Viktorie
  3. Sofie
  4. Anna
  5. Natálie
  6. Amálie
  7. Ema
  8. Tereza
  9. Laura
  10. Adéla
  11. Julie
  12. Rozálie
  13. Nela
  14. Mia
  15. Emma
  16. Karolína
  17. Barbora
  18. Sára
  19. Stella
  20. Anežka – the Czech form of Agnes.
  21. Veronika
  22. Marie
  23. Kristýna
  24. Meda
  25. Valerie
  26. Ella
  27. Klára
  28. Jasmína
  29. Štepánka
  30. Josefína
  31. Lucie
  32. Aneta
  33. Nina
  34. Magdaléna
  35. Zuzana (3-way tie)
  36. Ester (3-way tie)
  37. Beáta (3-way tie)
  38. Alžbeta (tie) – the Slovak form of Elizabeth.
  39. Elena (tie)
  40. Rozárie – the Czech form of Rosaria.
  41. Katerina
  42. Sofia
  43. Leontýna
  44. Liliana
  45. Gabriela
  46. Emily
  47. Amélie
  48. Adriana (3-way tie)
  49. Michaela (3-way tie)
  50. Stela (3-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Jakub
  2. Matyáš
  3. Jan
  4. Adam
  5. Matej
  6. David
  7. Vojtech
  8. Filip
  9. Dominik
  10. Tomáš
  11. Daniel
  12. Tobiáš
  13. Oliver
  14. Štepán
  15. Antonín
  16. Sebastian
  17. Lukáš
  18. Martin
  19. Ondrej
  20. Mikuláš
  21. Šimon (tie)
  22. Marek (tie)
  23. Samuel
  24. Jonáš
  25. Václav
  26. Petr (tie)
  27. Teodor (tie)
  28. Patrik
  29. Jirí – the Czech form of George.
  30. Tadeáš
  31. Kryštof
  32. Michal
  33. Viktor
  34. Vilém – the Czech form of William.
  35. Jáchym
  36. Eliáš
  37. Josef
  38. Richard
  39. Eduard
  40. František
  41. Albert
  42. Tobias
  43. Theodor
  44. Alex
  45. Pavel
  46. Kristián (tie)
  47. Damián (tie)
  48. Vincent
  49. Jindrich – the Czech form of Heinrich.
  50. Michael

The girls’ top 100 included Markéta (57th), Klaudie (68th), Nella (76th), and Bára (97th).

The boys’ top 100 included Vít (55th), Robin (60th), Hynek (66th), and Kevin (81st).

Speaking of Kevin…Czech journalist Michal Kašpárek (who helped build an app based on Czechia’s baby name data) mentioned Kevin and several other non-Czech names during an interview with Radio Prague International last year. Some quotes:

  • Amélie: “Before the movie Amélie came out in 2001 about one girl a year in the Czech Republic was named Amélie. The year after there [were] 13, out of nowhere, and then the number doubled each year until reaching today’s 180 or so Amélies every year.”
  • Kevin: “Kevin became really popular after Home Alone came out, which was in the ’90s, when American names in general got more popular in the Czech Republic.”
  • Bob: “[O]ur data also shows that the first Bobs were showing up in the 1960s, possibly due to Bob Dylan.”
  • Amy: “There was also a big increase in the name Amy around that time that Amy Winehouse hit it big. That was a trend that didn’t stop after she passed away. Amy is still a really common name, and it hadn’t been before.”

I didn’t post about Czechia’s top baby names of 2023, but here are Czechia’s 2016 rankings.

P.S. Several Czech letters, such as R-with-caron and E-with-caron, don’t render properly on my site. So please imagine that they exist in several of the names above: the girl names Alžbeta, Katerina, and Štepánka, and the boy names Jindrich, Jirí, Matej, Ondrej, Štepán, and Vojtech.

Sources: Detským jménum loni opet kralovali Jakub a Eliška – Ceský statistický úrad, Eliška and Jakub remain most popular baby names in Czechia – Radio Prague International, Jakub, Eliška… Kevin: App spotlights first names in Czechia – Radio Prague International, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Czech Republic (public domain)

Popular baby names in Croatia, 2024

Flag of Croatia
Flag of Croatia

Last year, the European country of Croatia welcomed 32,628 babies — 15,733 girls and 16,895 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Mia and Luka, as usual.

Here are Croatia’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Mia, 377 baby girls
  2. Rita, 363
  3. Nika, 328
  4. Mila, 296
  5. Lucija, 292
  6. Ema, 290
  7. Marta, 286 (tie)
  8. Sara, 286 (tie)
  9. Eva, 219
  10. Dora, 212
  11. Lara, 210
  12. Iva, 207
  13. Elena, 201
  14. Ana, 195
  15. Klara, 191
  16. Laura, 181
  17. Petra, 180
  18. Marija, 174
  19. Tena, 161
  20. Vita, 158
  21. Lana, 153
  22. Hana, 152
  23. Lea, 148 (tie)
  24. Una, 148 (tie)
  25. Sofia, 147
  26. Franka, 143
  27. Cvita, 139 (tie)
  28. Ena, 139 (tie)
  29. Nora, 136
  30. Maša, 130
  31. Nikol, 126
  32. Leona, 125
  33. Lena, 123
  34. Maris, 116
  35. Magdalena, 113
  36. Iris, 108 (tie)
  37. Tia, 108 (tie)
  38. Lota, 106
  39. Tara, 105
  40. Karla, 104
  41. Emili, 102
  42. Roza, 101
  43. Mara, 100
  44. Aria, 99 (tie)
  45. Sofija, 99 (tie)
  46. Bruna, 95
  47. Aurora, 93
  48. Katja, 92
  49. Kiara, 91 (tie)
  50. Tea, 91 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Luka, 603 baby boys
  2. Jakov, 468
  3. Toma, 426
  4. David, 420
  5. Petar, 376
  6. Niko, 365
  7. Ivan, 359
  8. Mateo, 350
  9. Roko, 349
  10. Matej, 337
  11. Noa, 300
  12. Josip, 298
  13. Fran, 290
  14. Šimun, 274
  15. Teo, 273
  16. Lovro, 262
  17. Vito, 261
  18. Mihael, 240
  19. Borna, 236
  20. Karlo, 235
  21. Marko, 231
  22. Leon, 225
  23. Filip, 223
  24. Jan, 220
  25. Leo, 211
  26. Ante, 206
  27. Gabriel, 185
  28. Ivano, 181
  29. Viktor, 153
  30. Lukas, 151
  31. Bruno, 147 (tie)
  32. Oliver, 147 (tie)
  33. Adrian, 143 (tie)
  34. Noel, 143 (tie)
  35. Rafael, 140
  36. Tin, 126
  37. Dominik, 125 (3-way tie)
  38. Emanuel, 125 (3-way tie)
  39. Liam, 125 (3-way tie)
  40. Marin, 121
  41. Mauro, 117
  42. Nikola, 116
  43. Maro, 114
  44. Toni, 100
  45. Duje, 96
  46. Antonio, 81 (4-way tie)
  47. Franko, 81 (4-way tie)
  48. Jona, 81 (4-way tie)
  49. Lovre, 81 (4-way tie)
  50. Patrik, 78

In the girls’ top 50, Maris, Aria, and Kiara replaced Marla, Luce, and Lora.

In the boys’ top 50, Franko and Jona replaced Erik and Andrej.

I didn’t post about Croatia’s top baby names of 2023, but here are Croatia’s 2022 rankings.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Civil ensign of Croatia (public domain)

Top baby names in Japan, 2024

Flag of Japan
Flag of Japan

This year, the island nation of Japan will likely welcome fewer than 700,000 babies for the first time in modern history.

What will the most popular names among this (relatively small) group of newborns be?

We’ll never know for sure, because Japan doesn’t release official baby name rankings. But the country’s top names of 2024 could include Rin and Tsumugi for girls, and Ao and Haruto for boys.

How do we know this?

Because, every year, two Japanese companies — the Benesse Corporation and the Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company — come up with unofficial baby name rankings for Japan using their own data (i.e., the names of the newborns of their own customers/clients). Both companies rank names in two ways: as they’re written, and as they’re said aloud (because so many Japanese names have more than one possible pronunciation).

  • Benesse’s 2024 rankings account for 263,885 babies born in Japan from January to September, 2024.
  • Meiji Yasuda’s 2024 rankings account for 14,325 babies born in Japan from January to September, 2024.

Girl names

Here are Japan’s top girl names as written, according to both companies:

Top baby names for girls in Japan, 2024

The top three girl names on Benesse’s list are commonly read Rin (meaning “cold” or “dignified”), Himari/Hinata (a combination of two kanji characters meaning “sun” and “hollyhock“), and Sui (meaning “green” or “verdant”). The top girl name on Meiji Yasuda’s list is commonly read Tsumugi (meaning “pongee“).

And here are Japan’s top girl-name readings, according to both companies:

Top baby name readings for girls in Japan, 2024

The top three readings on Benesse’s list are Sana, Ema, and Mei, while the top three on Meiji Yasuda’s list are Tsumugi, Ema, and Sana.

Boy names

Here are Japan’s top boy names as written, according to both companies:

Top baby names for boy in Japan, 2024

The top three boy names on Benesse’s list are commonly read Ao/Aoi (meaning “blue-green”), Ren (meaning “lotus”), and Nagi (meaning “calm”). The top name on Meiji Yasuda’s list is commonly read Haruto/Hinato (a combination of two kanji characters meaning “sun” and “soar”).

And here are Japan’s top boy-name readings, according to both companies:

Top baby name readings for boys in Japan, 2024

Notably, Benesse and Meiji Yasuda are in agreement on the top three: Haruto, Minato, and Riku.

Benesse’s data reveals the name Ran (meaning “indigo”) has seen a significant increase in usage among babies of both genders, likely because of (male) Olympic volleyball player Ran Takahashi.

The Japanese name Ran
Ran

And Meiji Yasuda’s data indicates that the most popular kanji character used in boy names (for the fourth consecutive year) is sho, no doubt thanks to the ongoing success of professional baseball player Shohei “Shotime” Otani.

The kanji character "sho"
Sho

Finally, here’s a link to Japan’s unofficial 2023 rankings, if you’d like to compare this year to last year.

Sources

Image: Adapted from Flag of Japan (public domain)