what is the meaning of the name emelia?

Answer 1

Sum: "industrious" (from German "amal") and/or "ambitious, striving eagerly" (from Latin "aemulus")


First rule -- do NOT simply accept what you find in a baby names book. Their scholarship is often very sloppy and confused. They also tend to choose name meanings that are flattering even if they are slightly (or even extremely) inaccurate.

Thus the meaning "industrious" has a solid basis. But "admiring", which I assume is based on a Latin name that may be involved here, is unjustified.

One of the better,more careful web sources for name origins is behindthename.com, from which much of the following info is derived.

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For the name "EMELIA"

This looks like a blend of two originally distinct names "Amelia" [from German] and "Emilia" [from Latin]

Most likely it is from:
AMALIA (from the masculine Amal) most often in English as "Amelia" - "Amal" is a German word meaning "work"; hence the names from it mean "hard-working" or "industrious"


But the specific form "Emelia" seems to at least have influenced by the girl's name:
EMILY/EMILIA (masculine form, Emil) - from the Roman family name Aemilius, which was derived from Latin aemulus meaning "rival"; the adjective form means "striving earnestly". ("ambitious" or "striving" are good alternatives.. "admiring" is NOT)

Here's a Latin dictionary entry on the word:
Charlton T. Lewis, An Elementary Latin Dictionary
aemulus adj. 2 IC-, AIC- "striving earnestly"
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults.jsp?q=aemulus

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Babyname books & sites like to just combine the meaning of both the Latin & German names and suggest something like, "ambitious, industrious" or "industrious, striving"... sometimes for ALL of these names. That is not quite possible, though perhaps in the specific case of "Emelia" the two names WERE fused and the definition is justified. And conveniently, the two ideas go together rather well!

Answer 2

EMELIA-Industrious, Admiring(German)

Answer 3

it means " admiring" and originated in Latin