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Emeka

#8,443 in 2025Boys' name

Short form of Chukwuemeka

Emeka has been given to 498 babies in the U.S. since 1974. In 2025 it ranked #8,443 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1991, with 16 recorded.

Babies named Emeka, 2025

1 in 368,000

Emeka over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Emeka: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Chukwuemeka

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Emeka means

Emeka is a short form of Chukwuemeka.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Emeka → Chukwuemeka. The family’s meaning is “God did a greater deed”, recorded in the naming reference for Chukwuemeka.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Chukwuemeka.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 481 boys were recorded with the name Emeka between 1974 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 16 in 1991; its best national rank was #2,959 in 1983.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #8,967 in 2020 to #8,443 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #7,205 in 2015 to #8,443 in 2025.

In the United States, 17 girls were recorded with the name Emeka between 1974 and 1978. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1974; its best national rank was #7,981 in 1974.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Emeka?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 368,000
9 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 190,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#8,443
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
255,323 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Emeka sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 255,323 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Emeka. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Emekas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Emeka was born before 2001 — so the typical Emeka is around 24 today.

Median birth year
2001
About 24 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
23.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
50.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
481
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 23.5% of all recorded uses (113).

Is Emeka rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+79
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+524
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,238
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.82×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
56.3%
Peak was 1991 (16)
Years since peak
34
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
33.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,959
1983

Spellings of Emeka

Emeka is not the most common spelling — Emery is, with 74.2% against Emeka's 1.7%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Emeka is used

Across 1910–2025, Emeka was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 3,486,540 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Emeka has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Emeka around the world

Where Emeka ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2023
    #3,113
    in 2023
  • France
    2005–2019
    #5,490
    in 2019
  • South Australia
    2006–2006
    #657
    in 2006

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Emeka by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#8,443
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 524
Best rank ever
#2,959
1983
Peak year
1991
16 that year
First recorded
1974
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
481
Count in 2025
9

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,981
1974
Peak year
1974
6 that year
First recorded
1974
Last recorded
1978
All-time count
17
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Emeka

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

EmettEmelioEmetEmericEmeriEmeraldEmersynEmerickEmerikEmersenEmethEmerykEmeterioEmeryEmertEmerilEmerieEmealEmereEmelyEmerettEmerisEmerEmeir

Sibling names for Emeka

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Emeka

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