Emmy

Emmy was a name used in America during the late 1800s but then disappeared from the charts, taking a rather long 100+ year hiatus from usage. Recently in 2007 the name was resurrected – obviously in reaction to the ultra-popularity of both Emma and Emily in the United States. There may also be some pop-culture influences at work here, too, such as with talented actress/singer Emmy Rossum and/or with Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony who named their daughter Emme in 2008. While Emmy still resides on the bottom half of the Top 1000 list of American girl names she has been showing improved signs of progress in the past couple of years. As a diminutive form of both Emma and Emily, Emmy sounds less formal and more youthful. The name also invokes the annual awards ceremony which serves to celebrate the best of television acting and production (i.e., the Emmy Awards) dating back to 1949. The Emmy Awards were named after an “immy” which referred to the image-orthicon camera tube – a contraption which allowed for the conversion of optical images into electrical signals, something that made early television possible. Immy was changed to Emmy in order to feminize the word in keeping with the female statue. Emmy could be a nickname used for a whole slew of female first names so it doesn’t necessarily need to be restricted to an official stand-alone first name. We get the appeal, though. Emmy is no doubt darling.