When I was a little kid, the name Emma was practically unique. I knew lots of Kates and several variations of Jennifers, a few Amandas and smattering of Sarahs. At the time there were no famous Emmas that I was aware of, unless you counted the title character from the Jane Austen novel (played by Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1996 film. I haven’t yet seen the new Emma movie with Anya Taylor-Joy.) I was in high school before I met another real-life girl named Emma.
These days the name, and the exceptional girls and women who own it, seems to be everywhere. I personally know at least three. That’s not counting the fictional, historical, and famous Emmas that are taking the world by storm.
Famous Emmas from Stage, Page and Screen
Today, in the most vain of vanity projects, I want to introduce you to some of the fabulous ladies who share my name.
- Emma Stone – Who doesn’t love her distinctive husky voice? She supposedly created a PowerPoint to pitch the idea of moving to Hollywood when she was 15. Her parents said yes. She has since appeared in Easy A, The Help, and Zombieland just to name a few of my favorites. Oh, she also won an Oscar for her performance in La La Land.
- Emma Donoghue – Dublin born author of Room and Akin, along with more than a dozen other books I didn’t realize existed until now. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be trapped in one room for your entire life under the eye of an abusive man who kidnapped your mother and impregnated her to make you, read Room.
- Emma Chamberlain – A YouTube Sensation with a weekly podcast, this Emma has been an ambassador for Louis Vuitton and Cartier. The Atlantic called her “the most talked about influencer in the world.”
- Emma Watson – She will forever be known as Hermione in the Harry Potter Movies, but this Parisian-born, British-raised actress is also a UN Women Goodwill ambassador and a big advocate of gender equality.
- Emma Roberts – An actress who recently made headlines by surprising her aunt with a home makeover on HGTV’s Celebrity IOU. If you’re a horror fan, you might have seen her in American Horror Story: 1984 for Scream Queens.
- Emma Mackey – She’s in the Barbie Movie, and Sex Education, and plays Emily Bronte in Emily? That’s one versatile Emma. She’s also a big lover of literature. It was her major at university. Hmm… I wonder if she’d like Assembling Ella?
- Emma Bull – Hugo and Nebula nominated science fiction and fantasy author who wrote the spectacular War for the Oaks, a book that changed the way I think about fantasy stories. Seriously. Read it.
- Emma Goldman – Despite her Lithuanian birth, she was known as the American Anarchist. An extreme leftist, she spoke to groups of students and workers about socialism and anarchy. Love her or hate her ideology, there’s no denying that Goldman shook the world with her words.
- Emma Lazarus – You might have read her work inscribed on the bronze plaque below the Statue of Liberty. Born wealthy and brought up with private tutors, she seemed destined to be a poet.
- Emma Jean – Author of the groundbreaking STEM-fantasy masterpiece Sleeping Beauty and the Cursed Code. She founded the I’m An Author Academy to teach teens how to write and publish books, launched the Story Wars Live project, and is always in the midst of some great new idea.
Inhuman Emmas: Acronyms and Mice
Weirdly there’s also an email marketing software named Emma (no relation). A mattress calls itself Emma and some sort of writing and portfolio site that uses the name Emma with an underscore. Plus EMMA is the acronym for the Electronic Municipal Market Access, an organization that provides access to documents and data related to municipal securities. (Yeah, I don’t really know what that means either). There’s also the European Mouse Mutant Archive (so that’s a thing).
Oh, and we can’t miss the Taylor Swift Song “When Emma Falls in Love.” There’s a lot of speculation around this song and who Emma is. All I know for sure is it’s not about me…probably.
No matter how many people and organizations claim it, the name has always felt special to me. I’m proud to share it with so many powerful, educated, earth-changing women.
Know an Emma? Send her this blog post, or connect on social and tell me about her.