A female name. Old German Emma or Imma, hypocoristic forms of names compounded with Ermin, Irmin ‘whole’, ‘universal’. The name was introduced into England by Emma, d. of Richard I, Duke of Normandy, who m. (1) 1002 King Ethelred the Unready, and (2) 1017 King Cnut. It was a favourite Norman name, and was common from the 11th C onwards. The English form was Em and Emm, which is found as late as the middle of the 18th C, and the diminutive Emmet was also common, giving rise to a number of surnames; Camden 16o5 and Lyford 1655 give Emmet as a christian name. The form Emma was revived in the 18th C, probably under the influence of Prior’s poem Henry and Emma, a paraphrase of the ballad of the ‘Nut Brown Maid’, which was very popular.

Emma Curia Regis Rolls 1186-1219 passim, Feudal Aids 1316, 1401. Emme Promptorium Parvulorum c. 1440. Emmote Hundred Rolls 1273. Emmete Hundred Rolls 1273. Emmot, Emmota Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379.

(Not to be confused with, or considered as an etymological equivalent of, Emilia and Emily.) ‘Amme, or Emma, no doubt formed by the first lispings of a child, is amme, a nurse, in Germany, and ama, a housekeeper, in Spain. As a name it was at first exclusively Frank... The first Emma mentioned was the daughter of Charlemagne’; at first it was ‘considered so un-English’ that it was ‘translated into Ælgifu’; but soon there were Emmes, Ems, and Emms. By 1500, Emma was common enough in England, partly because clergymen used it as a translation both of Amy and of Em. (Yonge.)

Some derive this name from the Greek amme, a nurse. It comes rather from the Latin Amata, signifying loved, name of the wife of King Latinus and mother of Lavinia. Gellius says the high-priest called the Vestal Amata when she was admitted to the service of the goddess.

Teutonic (feminine) - A nurse.

A Teutonic name, meaning: Grandmother, signifying greatness. Given by some authorities as a form of Emeline.