Emerson

Emerson is an English surname turned given name. It began as a patronymic meaning son of Emery, and Emery comes from a Germanic personal name generally interpreted as powerful ruler. As a first name Emerson has been in use since the nineteenth century, and it is now given to both boys and girls; Emersyn is a variant used mainly for girls.

American and British speakers alike say EM-er-suhn, with the stress on the first syllable.

The name's best-known bearer is Ralph Waldo Emerson, the nineteenth-century American essayist and leading figure of transcendentalism; Emerson College in Boston is named for him. The rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer took part of its name from the keyboardist Keith Emerson.

Emerson moved into wide American use in the late 1990s: in 1998 it was given to 146 babies, up from 20 the year before. It kept climbing, reaching 683 babies and 443rd place in 2005, and in 2025 it was given to 2,241 babies and ranked 122nd, the highest position it has held since becoming common in the 1990s.