Meaning & Origin
A male given name from Latin.
Emil is a boy's and girl's baby name of Latin origin, from the Roman family name Aemilius, derived from the Latin aemulus, meaning 'rival, eager to excel' — the spirit of healthy competition and ambition.
Borne by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Emil Fischer, novelist Emil Zola (in French as Émile), and the beloved children's classic Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner, Emil carries a Scandinavian and Germanic cultural tradition of modest, intelligent distinction. Clean and precise, it's a name that lets the person fill it with meaning.