| Emi | Aiko | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Beautiful blessing | Child of love |
| Origin | Japanese | japanese |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | EH-mee | AH-ee-koh |
| Syllables | 2 | 3 |
| First appeared | 1916 | 0 |
| Peak year | 2025 (303) | 2023 (77) |
| In 2025 | 303 | 0 |
| Trend | Near its peak | Rising |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Emi | Aiko |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 1,314 | 384 |
| 2010s | 1,523 | 301 |
| 2000s | 706 | 311 |
| 1990s | 279 | 124 |
| 1980s | 257 | 60 |
| 1970s | 141 | 45 |
| 1960s | 48 | 0 |
| 1950s | 19 | 5 |
| 1940s | 10 | 7 |
| 1930s | 10 | 108 |
| 1920s | 37 | 306 |
| 1910s | 16 | 134 |
Emi is often written with kanji for “beautiful” and “blessing” or “smile.”
A Japanese name most commonly written 愛子, from ai 'love, affection' and ko 'child' — 'child of love, beloved child'. Meaning depends on the kanji chosen, but the 愛 (love) spelling is the standard one.
Emi is more popular than Aiko today: about 303 US babies were given the name Emi in 2025, compared with 0 named Aiko.
Emi means Beautiful blessing (Japanese origin), while Aiko means Child of love (japanese origin).
In US records, Emi first appears in 1916 and Aiko in 0, so Aiko has the longer recorded history.