Name Help: Emmy, Emme, or Emmie?Name Help is a series at Appellation Mountain. Every week, one reader’s name questions will be discussed.

We’re relying on thoughtful comments from the community to help expectant parents narrow down their name decisions. Thank you in advance for sharing your insight!

Allison writes:

After weeks of discussion, we’ve settled on a name for our daughter, due in May: Emmeline Frances. We’re pronouncing “line” to sound like mine and sign.

But now we have another dilemma: how do we spell her nickname?

I was writing Emme. My husband spells it Emmy. And my mother-in-law thinks Emmie, because our son is Charles “Charlie” so the kids’ names would match.

I’m not sure I have a favorite – okay, I’m not wild about Emmie – but Emme and Emmy both seem reasonable. It’s just that I want there to be one, and it want to be as obvious as possible. As a child and teenager, I sometimes answered to Aly, Allie, Ali, Ally and any-other-speling-you-can-dream-up.

My husband objects to Emme because he says it will be pronounced like the letter M. But Emmy sounds a little bit Southern, maybe? It just seems less sophisticated than Emme, even though I know that might be all in my head.

So which spelling makes sense?

Read on for my response, and please leave your thoughtful suggestions in the comments.

Dear Allison –

I’m so glad you’ve found a great name for your daughter! I know it’s frustrating to think you’re done, and then realize there’s more to decide, right?

Let’s see if we can break this down:

  • You have multiple options, all of which are valid and reasonably familiar. It’s not as if you’re considering Ehmmeigh.
  • My general advice when it comes to spelling applies here: consider the dominant spelling at the time of your child’s birth. If you like it just fine, then go with that spelling. Odds are it will prove simplest over time.

So no choice is bad, but perhaps the best one is whatever spelling most people favor. This is difficult, of course, because we don’t have good data on how people spell their nicknames.

But we do know that all three spellings are sometimes used as independent names, and that gives us some useful data:

  • In 2017, 141 girls were named Emme. This is down quite a bit, from a peak around 2009.
  • Emmie, on the other hand, was given to 422 girls, a new high. It’s more than doubled in use since 2012.
  • But Emmy comes out on top, the spelling used for 493 girls. Again, Emmy has risen rapidly over the last decade.

Peak Emme is probably thanks to Jennifer Lopez, who named her daughter Emme Maribel back in 2008.

The actor Emmy Rossum – born Emmanuelle – might explain the rise in the ‘y’ spelling. She’s had many a starring role, including Phantom of the Opera and nine seasons on Showtime’s Shameless.

I also think of Emmylou Harris – maybe the reason you get a slightly Southern vibe from the ‘y’ spelling.

And, of course, the award for excellence in television is called an Emmy. It’s not named for some fabled early television star; instead, the statuette takes its name from a camera tube.

All of this leads me to say the ‘y’ spelling seems sensible. The numbers suggest it’s the spelling most people will think of, most of the time.

And yet, I’m not sure if there’s any way to completely avoid the Ali/Allie/Ally experience. Emmy is ascendant now, but Emmie – likely inspired by so many Sadie/Ellie spellings – is rising fast. And Emme had a good run, too.

Logic takes me to Emmy, but feel free to go your own way if it feels right for your family.

For now, let’s have a poll and see how readers feel about the choice:

 

Readers, do you have any advice on choosing the spelling of a nickname – or names in general?

About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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24 Comments

  1. Just want to say that Emmeline Frances is a beautiful name. I would hate for this confusion over nickname spelling to detract from it in anyway. It is very lovely.

  2. As someone who has always gone by that nickname (spelled Emie in my case – my dad also wanted to spell it cute and unique), people who know me well, parents and friends, get it right. Everyone else, even aunts and uncles, still write Emmie and Emy and many other permutations on cards. That said, no one has ever spelled it “Emme” in all my 36 years. Spellings I have gotten are most commonly Emmy and Emmie, but also Emy, Emi, and Emmi. The grandmother is right about people’s assumptions, my sister is Ellie, and people do assume our names match, except when they remember that they don’t match, but not how they are different, so she gets hers written Elie and I get mine Emmie, or she will get Elly or Ely and I’ll have some different spelling. (Note creative spellers: some of these spellings are actually pronounced Ee-lie”). I agree with your husband that Emme looks like it should be pronounced “M”, just as Elle is pronounced “L”, not Ellie. As a spelling of the nickname “M”, I like it. As a way to say “Emie”, I do not. 1) it is not common and will not be easily remembered, but likely none of the others will either, so let that pipe dream go now, 2) it is a made up, pretentious way to spell it that doesn’t make sense in the English language (my way is made up to, but at least it works in English). I absolutely am against Emme, it is my new least favorite way to spell it, even worse than the ends-in-“i” ways (the formerly most pretentious ways to spell it, but at least made sense in languages like Spanish).

    Sorry, normally I am mildly annoyed by people “misspelling” my name, but recognize that it is not a common name or a common spelling, and generally let it go unless it’s on a name tag at an important event or group email or something where I am making long term contacts or new friends. But ever since I learned a few months ago that Emme is being pronounced “Emie” I have had very visceral reactions against it.