Emery

The most prominent historical bearer is Saint Emeric of Hungary (circa 1000-1031), son of Saint Stephen I, founder of the Christian Hungarian state.

Emeric was raised as the heir apparent and educated by Saint Gerard of Csanád, but died young in a hunting accident.

He was canonized in 1083 alongside his father and is venerated on November 4.

The American continent America takes its name from the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, whose given name is the Italian form of Emeric. This makes Emery and America etymologically related.

The English word emery, denoting the abrasive variety of corundum used in nail files and grinding wheels, comes from a different source: the Old French esmeril, ultimately from the Greek smyris.

The two words are not etymologically connected to the personal name despite their identical modern spellings.

Literary uses of the name include characters in 19th-century English novels and the architect Emery Roth, whose firm designed many notable New York apartment buildings including the San Remo.

In the United States, Emery was used as a masculine name from the 19th century onward, ranking within the top 1000 for boys consistently from 1880.

Its feminine adoption is a recent phenomenon: it entered the SSA top 1000 for girls in 2009 at rank 871, then rose with extraordinary speed.

By 2017 it had crossed into the top 200, and by 2023 it reached approximately rank 100. The name is rare outside North America.

Contemporary bearers include the daughters of multiple American celebrities.

Emery exemplifies the contemporary American trend of reviving medieval Germanic names with surname-like phonetics and applying them as unisex or feminine choices, alongside Avery, Ember, and Everly.