Talk:Emma (given name)


 * top importance assigned based on the given name being the most popular in any one country for any one year --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 01:48, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Suspect etymology?
The source "behindthename.com" bewilders me. I have always thought of Emma as short for Emmanuelle. I really cannot conceive of Emma as a Germanic name. It's too pretty. The only beautiful Germanic name I can think of, is Matilda, because it sounds rather close to Madeleine. Ahh, I just went looking for more pretty Germanic names...Ermengarde, Millicent and Adelaide came up. But still, Emma doesn't seem like anything but Emma-nuelle. Catterick (talk) 11:39, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Bit of a muddle
Either this article should be titled Ema (given name), or it should lead off with an explanation of Emma, not Ema. The way it is right now looks odd.

Also, the opening paragraphs don't make much sense (my bolding):


 * Ema was originally a short form of Germanic names that began with the element ermen meaning "whole" or "universal". It was introduced to England by Emma of Normandy, who was the wife both of king Ethelred II (and by him the mother of Edward the Confessor) and later of king Canute. It was also borne by an 11th-century Austrian saint, who is sometimes called Hemma.


 * After the Norman conquest this name became common in England. It was revived in the 18th century, perhaps in part due to Matthew Prior's poem Henry and Emma (1709). It was also used by Jane Austen for the central character, the matchmaker Emma Woodhouse, in her novel Emma (1816).


 * Variant Emma is ...

How can the name "Ema" (as distinct from "Emma") be "introduced" or "revived" by people who spell it "Emma"? It all seems to be the wrong way round, but I don't really understand the intention and am reluctant to start hacking it about. Anyone? 86.138.104.18 (talk) 02:14, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

The given name "Emma" in African countries (esp. Nigeria)
After having now stumbled on the third MALE 'Emma' in Nigeria (e. g. the musician Emma Dorgu) I do believe the name is not used with females there, but with males. Can anyone confirm that? -andy 77.7.98.101 (talk) 14:59, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Etymology
Emma is derived from the Proto-Germanic *haimaz meaning "home, house", cognate with Old Norse heim, Old English ham, Old Dutch hēm, Old High German and German heim, Swedish hem, etc. (see Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/haimaz and Heim etymology).--2001:861:55C1:B100:A88D:204C:864F:5C4D (talk) 10:20, 12 October 2021 (UTC)