English, from the Roman name Aemilia, itself derived from the family name Aemilius probably with the meaning "rival". 

In Scotland Emily is synonymous with Amy presumably due to the latter's phonetic similarity with the first two syllables of Aemilia although the origin of the names is quite different.

The several spellings of this name that we have found in the 1841 Census of Aberdeenshire will, in general, be found using Soundex searching.