Emely

Emely is an Americanized respelling of the classic English female name Emily. Emily comes from the Latin name “Aemilia” which is the feminine version of the Old Roman family name, “Aemilius” (which comes from the Latin “aemulus” meaning ‘rival’). The later Latin version of the name “Emilia” was probably used in medieval Italy, but as a given name for English girls, Emily wasn’t common until the 18th century. Princess Amelia Sophia moved to Great Britian from Hanover Germany when her grandfather, King George I, inherited the throne in 1714, succeeding Queen Anne as her closest living Protestant relative (the Protestant part was important because Anne had scores of Catholic relatives Parliament refused to recognize). And so started the House of Hanover within the English monarchy. Princess Amelia was referred to as Emily in England and she alone helped popularize the name. By the 18th century, Emily was one of the more common names in England and so has a distinctive British flavor to it. The respelling of Emely is mostly an Americanized rendering of this name (although Emely oddly shows up on the female naming charts in Austria).