Girl · Old Norse
Embla
Say it: EM-blah
Meaning
The first woman in Norse myth. The meaning is uncertain: 'elm' and 'vine' are both proposed.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Not a Viking-age personal name, but taken up in Iceland and Sweden in recent decades.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 5 babies given this name since 2020
- At its height in 2020, about 1 in 319,800 girls
- 5 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
Famous bearers
- Embla, first woman in Norse mythology
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Well-known works of literature
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.