Emma
[ˈɛmə]Meaning
short form of Germanic names beginning with irmin, "whole" or "great"
Background Story
Emma began as a short form of Germanic compound names built on the element irmin, meaning "whole" or "great". It was brought to England by the Normans, and Emma of Normandy bore it as the wife of King Ethelred II and later of King Canute. The name was revived in the 18th century, perhaps in part through Matthew Prior's 1709 poem Henry and Emma, and Jane Austen used it for the central character of her novel Emma (1816). It is used in Bosnian, Croatian, Czech, Frisian, Georgian, Lithuanian, Low German, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovene and English.
Temperament
Variations
Emmy, M.
Related Names
Elma
Short form of Wilhelmine and of names ending in -elma, such as Anselma
Edda
Italian form of Hedda; possibly from Old Norse "great-grandmother".
Edna
Means "pleasure" in Hebrew, from a root meaning "to delight"
Elke
Low German and Frisian diminutive of Adelheid; also a Yiddish feminine form of Elkanah
Elva
Anglicized form of Ailbhe; feminine form of Alf
Evee
Recorded as a feminine given name in modern American English
Ilsa
Variant of Ilse
Maud
Medieval English and French form of Matilda
Romy
A diminutive of Rosemarie, Rosemary, and names beginning with Rom