Which is more timeless, Sarah or Emily?

[hcarter8]

I like nonsense names that are easy to spell and pronounce but I am struggling to find a truly timeless name.

my partner likes Emily, I know Emily was very popular 20 years ago so could have the possibility of sounding dated on a baby today even though it’s only number 28 on the ONS and even though Sarah was very popular in the 70s it feels more classic to me for some reason. On the ONS Sarah had never fallen out of the top 100 until 2021 but Emily did for about 60 years and then became popular in the 90s and 2000s.

thoughts?

To me neither! I think they are both names of a time. Anna is a timeless name to me, and pretty universal too.

I think Sarah is a bit of a beige name, Emily is quite pretty.

Sarah.

I’m an Emily and i love it personally. It’s an old name but young

I just don't really like the name Sarah, it does sound dated to me. Emily is classic and timeless.

I’m a Sarah and I absolutely love my name!

There aren’t many of us about, it can’t be shortened and I feel it’s a real classic name.

My lovely mum chose well 😍

I have a Emily she is in her 30’s
i wanted something that would suit any age
also on the list was
sarah
Rebecca
Georgia
Harriet
Enid
Annie

I can’t think of one Sarah I’ve ever met who wasn’t horrid so I vote Emily. I prefer Emma though.

emily.

sarah is a bit elderly and drab

It feels like there are a lot of Emily’s around, even though it’s a nice name. Sarah is timeless and would be more rare.

As you’ve found out, the only truly timeless popular name is Elizabeth for girls. But Alice, Maria and yes, Sarah come close as they’ve only fallen out of the Top 100 occasionally.

Emily feels more timeless than Sarah because there are just so many Sarah’s in their late 30’s to 50’s that they overshadow the fact that there are some elderly and young ones too. Where as most people may only know a handful of Emily’s of varying ages (unless you work in a school or with lots of teenagers).

Tbh since both are classic but not completely timeless, I’d personally pick based on whether I wanted her to have a nn or not . Sarah has Sally and Sadie but they are rarely used where as lots of Emily’s seem to get Em or Emmy (or very occasionally Milly). Of the two I’d personally choose Sarah, but it’s pretty close - both are good picks that would serve her well.

I prefer Sarah

Where we live we have a lot of ‘variations’ of Emily and they aren’t all good sadly 😬😂, you can’t really mess up Sarah!

Ive known an Emaleigh, an Emilley and an Emmie-Lee

Sarah

Both names are lovely but there is, at least, one Sarah in the Bible’s Old Testament. You can’t get more timeless than that!

I like both names, but I know sooo many 30-50yo Sarahs (we have 3 in our (relatively small) workforce, 2 at our stables and I had 3-4 just in my year at school. And I’ve just checked and I have 10 on Facebook 🤣)
In contrast, I know 2 people called Emily, one is 20s, the other is in her 40s. DD knows one at school (12), so Emily doesn’t scream middle aged to me in the same way Sarah does

I know loads of Sarahs but no Emilys.
having said that 20% of girls in my dd’s primary year were called Emily. (Dd is 28)

Emily

As one of very many Sarah born in the 70s, I worry that a baby Sarah nowadays might see herself as having a “nanna name” growing up.

That said, most of the other Sarah’s I know have sisters called Emma - which is obviously fairly close to Emily.

In all honesty, I wouldn’t choose either for a baby born in 2025.

You can have nicknames for Sarah too… Sally & Sadie. It’s biblical and means Princess. It’s a very beautiful name & definitely due a revival.

I don't think Emily is a timeless classic. It was definitely considered an old fashioned name (not in a good way) in the 70s and 80s because of Corrie's Emily Bishop. Sarah is biblical so I think has been around longer. I know one of around 20.

Emily, beautiful name. Sarah I'm sort of indifferent about, wouldn't use it.

Edited to say Emily Bishop was years ago, nobody will think of that as dd grows. I wouldn't even think of that now! You could say the same for Sarah Platt who was in it much more recently

Emily 110%

I love the name Emily.
If I had gone on to have a 3rd baby I would have had Emily for a little girl.
Both my DH’s brothers are married to Sarah’s and he also has a cousin called Sarah!!

Sarah is my name… I love it, probably know three people who share the same! I am 60+ so probably not trending.. however it’s Hebrew for princess and it is unusual in this day and age xxx

Sarah is more timeless