Amelia - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 3 syll. a-me-lia, am-el-ia ] The girl name Amelia is pronounced ahMIYLYah ^KEY. Amelia has its origins in the Latin language, and it is used largely in Dutch, English, German, Italian, and Spanish. From aemulus which means 'imitating, rivaling' ; amal which means 'work'. Aemilia (Latin) is an old form of the name. The name was derived from the Roman Aemilia, of the Latin 'aemulus', under the influence of the Old German 'amal'. The former gave rise to Emilia while the latter gave rise to Amalia; thus the name Amelia can also be taken as a cross of the names Amalia and Emilia. Emilia and other forms of Emily have also been used as pet forms of Amelia, which could have contributed to the adoption of the name. The name first appeared in the English speaking world in the Henry Fielding novel Amelia (1751). It soon became popular during the Hanoverian monarchy in the 18th century, and was known as the first name of Queen Adelaide (1792-1849), the wife of William IV, and of Princess Amelia (1783-1810), the youngest daughter of George III. In literature, the name also appeared as the name of the character Amelia Sedley in the William Makepeace Thackeray novel Vanity Fair (1847-1848). The name was later made famous by the aviator Amelia Earhart (1897-1937), while the French form was popularized as the title of the successful French movie Amélie (2001).

Variants of Amelia include Amelie (German), Amelita (Italian), and Amélie (French). The pet forms Delia (English), Millie (English), and Milly (English) are other variants of the name. See also the related form, Emilia (German).

Amelia is popular as a baby name for girls, and it is also regarded as trendy. The name's popularity has been growing since the 1960s. Its usage peaked modestly in 2007 with 0.198% of baby girls being named Amelia. It ranked at #77 then. Among all girl names in its group, Amelia was the most popular in 2007. 5 times more girls were named Amelia than the next most popular name, Emilia (German), in that year.

Baby names that sound like Amelia include Amalia (German and Scandinavian), Amalie (German and Scandinavian), Amalya (English), Amália (Hungarian, Portuguese, and Slavic), Amálie (Czech), Amelie (German), Amélie (French), Analia (Portuguese), Anela (Hawaiian), Anneli (German), Annelie (German, English, and Scandinavian), Anniela (Polish), Anthoula (Greek), Anula (Polish), Enola (English), Amalea (English), Amaliya (English), Anaëlle (French), Aniela (Polish), Emilia (German), Ana Lilia (Spanish), and Analilia (Spanish).

^KEY: Pronunciation for Amelia: AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; M as in "me (M.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; Y as in "yield (Y.IY.L.D)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"

A famous person named Amelia is Amelia Earhart, Aviator, born 24 July 1897 - 2 July 1937, Atchison, Kansas.

Popularity Trend
for Amelia
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Amelia
in 2007