E is for Emilie

So, Emily and all its variants have been one of my favourite names since I was about 10. There was no way I was going to pass it up for the A to Z Challenge. I prefer it spelled with an 'ie' at the end instead of 'y'; hence the name of the post. However, Behind the Name tells me that strictly speaking, "Emilie" is a Scandinavian name that's pronounced as we in the U.S. would pronounce "Amelia." Fair enough.

Emily Prentiss, played by Paget Brewster.
Hands down, my favourite character on
any crime show (sorry, NCIS). Source.

Emily
The feminine form of Emil, which comes from a Latin word meaning "rival". Which strikes me as hysterical, because every Emily I know is a delightful person and not one of them has acted like she has a lot of enemies. Emily was the #1 girls name in the U.S. for 12 years in the '90s and '00s, and is still in the top 10. My preferred form of "Emilie" was never higher than 449th during the '00s. It was more popular in the 1880s, when it got up to 263rd.

Famous Emily/Emilies: Emilie Schindler (yep, that Schindler), Emilie Dionne (one of the Dionne quints), Emily Dickinson, Emily Brontë, Emily Post (I know there are lots more famous Emilys. I'm cutting it short in the interest of space.)

Fictional Emily/Emilies: Emily Prentiss (Criminal Minds), Emily Bartlett (Emily's Runaway Imagination)

My Emily/Emilies: Emilie, in my WIP, is the main character's best friend. She tends to get a lot of my best lines; I'm writing from a third person close POV with the main character, and since we see all her insecurity and angst, it works better to put the snark into Emilie's mouth. In real life: Despite knowing people named Emily my whole life, I don't seem to be in current communication with any of them. I do have a friend back home who has a wee Emily (not so wee any more, though!), but that's the only one I can think of. Clearly, I've scared them all off.

Are you an Emily/Emilie? Do you know any?

Sources:
Behind the Name
Knol
Baby Name Wizard