A lot of names are going to girls and lately I discovered the name Emerence. I thought it would be a great boy’s name until I discovered it’s a girl’s name!
It’s not very common and I was wondering if a boy could pull it off?
I’m glad someone else loves the name Emerence! Though I love it for a girl. I think because it is so obscure it probably could work on a guy, but to me it seems like a feminization of [name]Emerson[/name], so it’s pretty girly to me…
Where did you hear it? I love [name]Emerson[/name] for a little boy, but I haven’t heard Emerence before! Not sure how I feel about it, though.
I was browsing a name app on my fiance’s phone and it popped up. Apparently it’s a French girls name.
[name]Emerson[/name] is alright, but it’s just so popular and unisex now, I’m not sure I like it. Emerence may be a girls name, but it’s not very well known, which makes it seem safe to use on a boy and I like the sound of it a lot better as well.
Boy’s names are so hard for me since I like the softer sounding ones, which tend to be the ones that go on girls.
My only issue, and this is my own crazy brain here, is that its so obscure but yet a very legit female name…What if all of a sudden this name is brought to light due to an actress, or, movie role etc that puts it all of a sudden out in the open and being that it has the very popular [name]EM[/name] first 2 letters, all of a sudden there are many parents who forgo [name]Emily[/name], [name]Emma[/name], [name]Emerson[/name] and head this direction? That is my only concern, and like I said, its sort of a silly one but still there in my brain.
I do think it works for both a boy or a girl based on sound alone, however, given on where you live and where this little boy may end up living in the future, it may be well known in that area (being that its French, is it popular in [name]France[/name] etc?) so a boy with this name may be confusing and upsetting to him.
I didn’t think about that, I don’t know though how common Emerence will become, the only data I can find is it ranked #6856 in 2003. As for being a common French name, I’m not sure on that either. There doesn’t seem to be much info on the name…
I found that it means “worthy of merit” but not sure if that’s true or not since it was on babynames.com and they aren’t very accurate.
[name]Emrys[/name] is the druid name for [name]Merlin[/name], the character from the Arthurian legend. It seems rather feminine until you learn the actual original use. So even though Emerence might be a girls name traditionally the roots, if you go back far enough, it may actually be masculine. I think it is cute, like a combination of [name]Emery[/name] and [name]Lawrence[/name].
It’s my top girls name and [name]IMO[/name] it sounds weird on a boy… [name]Emrys[/name] would be a more masculine name that is similar.
It’s a lot like [name]Lawrence[/name] and [name]Clarence[/name], but also [name]Constance[/name] and [name]Patience[/name].
I think you could safely swing it both ways, a boy could be called [name]Ren[/name] and a girl [name]Emmie[/name].
I first heard of it through a birth announcement for ‘Emmerenze’ and I loved the sound. Looking into it, I discovered Emerence and Emerentia. I absolutely adore it, and it’s one of the few names that actually work in Norway as well. I would never use it for a boy myself, [name]Clarence[/name], [name]Emrys[/name] or Emeric would be my picks for something similar, both names I really like. Or maybe Emre, a lovely Turkish name meaning ‘friend’, although it actually works better in Norway than English speaking countries. ^^
I like Emerence in general. I probably wouldn’t have realize it was a girls name if I meet a boy with that name, since I’ve never heard it before. If you used it for a boy I’d pair it with a stronger male name in case your son one day feels it is too soft.
Personally I’d hold onto it for a girl because of it’s overall softness - I also have a thing about really only wanting to use fn for the correct gender. Take [name]Ashley[/name] for example: knowing it was originally a boys name I would be more inclined to consider it for a boy that for a girl even though it is now more popular for a girl. (Which has nothing to do with names that were originally unisex. I’m always super excited to find one of those).
I really like Emerence for a boy or a girl. Since you’ve found out how popular it is in the US, the next step could be gauging its popularity in [name]France[/name]. In [name]France[/name] I think it might be a feminisation of Emeran / Emmeran because I found that on a French site but I really don’t know. On BtN I found Emerentius which means ‘to fully deserve’, which is pretty much another way to say ‘worthy of merit’.
If you decide against it, how would you feel about Emmeric / Emeric / [name]Emmerich[/name]? I think it’s soft-sounding, but doesn’t seem too bound to ‘go to the girls’ since it’s fairly close it [name]Eric[/name].
I haven’t officially added Emerence to my list and [name]Ezra[/name] still tops it. I think I might like it a little more than [name]Everett[/name] though. I’m not sure what it is is, but there is just something about the -ence ending that makes me like it, while Emeric and [name]Emrys[/name] just don’t appeal to me. I think another problem with Emeric is I can’t help but think limerick (type of poem) when I hear it.
As for popularity in [name]France[/name], I honestly have no idea where to find that info, I don’t speak french so going to a French site wouldn’t help either.
If you like the -ence ending, you might like [name]Maxence[/name], although I suspect it’s a little sharp for you, seeing [name]Everett[/name] and [name]Ezra[/name] are your other favourites. I’m curious, is there a reason all your boy names start with E?
And [name]Clarence[/name] is really great, [name]Clancy[/name] is so adorable for a nickname, and I secretly adore [name]Clare[/name] for a boy ^^
Emerence is apparently a saint name, [name]Saint[/name] Emerentiana was the original spelling, Emerence in [name]France[/name]. Emerentian is possibly a legit but even more obscure male form. The root for Emerence/Emerentius is apparently the Latin ēmerēri, which means ‘to earn/merit’.
A Dutch form of Emerentius is Emerens, a boys name. That would be a legit way to get Emerence on a boy, if the slight spelling alteration doesn’t bother you 
As for popularity in [name]France[/name], I only came as far a determining Emerence’s absence from the top 200 in 2010. [name]Clemence[/name], [name]Constance[/name] and Garance were all there though. I also found out that it’s never been one of the 20 most used names in any decade since 1890. And looking at 1970 which had both [name]Laurence[/name] and [name]Florence[/name] in the top 20, I couldn’t find Emerence in the top 200. I don’t think it’s a very popular name in [name]France[/name].
(also, I was going to vote on your name list, but it was set as private.)
Thanks, and no there really is no reason for the E theme, it just happens to be what I liked, lol. Boy names are tricky for me and I think the E is just a favorite because E names are generally softer sounding. Other names I like, but can only be used as middles are [name]Eugene[/name], [name]Severus[/name], [name]Etienne[/name], [name]Bryce[/name], [name]Frederic[/name] and [name]Nathaniel[/name].
[name]Maxence[/name] is too strong. Not sure on Emerens since it sounds more like [name]Emer[/name]-ins (like inns), rather than emer-ince (like since) so pronunciation might be an issue for me.
I have my name list on private since I’m reworking it. Sorry about that.
I think I’m still a little iffy on Emerence, so I’ll have to think more on it, but keep the opinions coming!
That’s funny about [name]Maxence[/name], [name]Bryce[/name] would be way too ctrong for me, possibly [name]Frederic[/name] as well! ^^
[name]Maxence[/name] is fine, he’s softened by the M and the -ns sound at the end.
I’m from Norway where interchangeble vowels are non-existent, so the difference in pronunciation between Emerens and Emerence is completely lost on me. I pronounce both em-er-ens, no i’s involved.
And don’t worry about the name list, I just thought it would be bad for you if it was wrong and you didn’t know about it 
Native French speakers, correct me if I’m wrong, but after five years of French I’m pretty sure it would be pronounced more like Eh-mer-ONS (last syllable rhymes with sconce), rather than [name]Em[/name]-er-ince (like [name]Temperance[/name] without the T and P). [name]Just[/name] like [name]Maxence[/name] would be [name]Max[/name]-ONS (rhymes with sconce) as well.
I actually quite like it for either gender. Found a site (not sure how reliable) that lists it as being used in the Netherlands 0 times for boys but only 30 times for girls in the last recorded year. Again not sure of that info and not sure when that update was, but it can’t possibly be too common for either.
Personally I think gender crossover names could and should go either way, so just because a handful of girls have had the name it doesn’t mean you can’t use it for a boy or that it would be upsetting for him to have the name.
Well I like the -ince sound, so now I’ll be worried about that, if anything the name might be moved into a possible middle rather than first. I also like the idea of doing the opposite and moving a girl’s name onto a boy, but I don’t know if I’m brave enough to do it, lol, plus my fiance’ says he’s not a fan of name overall, so if anything it might go in a middle spot.
I doubt anyone who isn’t familiar with French would pronounce it that way on first glance, they’d be more likely to pronounce it [name]Emer[/name]-ince I imagine. [name]Even[/name] though I’ve taken French I still pronounce [name]Genevieve[/name] as [name]Jen[/name]-uh-veev instead of the French Zhan-vee-ev, so a simple correction is probably all it would take.
Although if the future hubby is iffy on it, it would still make a great middle!
I love the sound of this name. But I don’t like how it looks. It looks like Emergency a lot.
Emérence is pretty rare in [name]France[/name] though it’s had a slight but consistent rise in popularity and I’m seeing it pop up a lot on naming boards, because of that, St. Emérence and the fact that it is a girls name it’s not one I would choose for a boy. I think it’s important to consider that if a male Emérence ever went to [name]France[/name] his French name would get a lot of double takes so I don’t think it works plus there are English speakers who might be aware of St. Emérence and find it strange on a boy.
Emeric or [name]Amaury[/name] are good alternatives imo.
@greyer is correct about the prn, the most frequent prn I see on French boards are “em-ay-rohns”(ém é rance) and “em rohns” (ém rance)