Emmitt
Meaning
variant of Emmett, an English surname from a medieval pet form of Emma
The story
Emmitt is a variant of Emmett, which comes from an English surname derived from a medieval diminutive of Emma, itself from the Germanic element irmin, "whole" or "great". So the double-t spelling is a boy's name with a girl's name in its ancestry, several centuries deep. The records show a long quiet line: on the books every decade since the 1890s, a few hundred a decade for most of a century. Then came the era of its most famous bearer, the football player Emmitt Smith, and after it the leap: about 790 boys in the 2000s, about 4,400 in the 2010s, and about 2,700 so far this decade. A name that waited a hundred years in the middle distance, then found its sprint in the twenty-first century.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Emmitt peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
When you meet Emmitt
Most people given the name Emmitt in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Emmitt deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Emmitt truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Emmitt fits with your family’s names and surname.
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