The ordinary derivation of Emma from a Teutonic word signifying grandmother, or nurse, becomes impossible in face of the fact that among the Old Franks, from whom, through the Normans, we received it, the man's name Emmo was quite as common as the woman's, Emma. But in point of fact the stem, of which the older form seems to have been _im_, was one common to the whole Teutonic system, including the Low Germans settled in England. And the Immingas, descendants or followers of Imma, are ranged by Kemble among the early settlers. But among the Anglo-Saxons, with whom the ending of men's names (other than compounds) was generally in _a_, Imma would obviously not be suitable for names of women; and in point of fact it always appears in England, at that time, as a man's name. And probably, for this reason, the Frankish princess Emma, on becoming the wife of Cnut of England, considered it necessary to assume a Saxon name in addition to her own, and so become known as Ælfgifu Imma. But a few centuries later, when the simple old Saxon names in _a_ had very much died out, Emma coming in as something quite new, and with the stamp of Norman prestige, became at once, as appears from the _Liber Vitæ_, a name in favour. As to the etymology, which is considered by the Germans to be obscure, I have elsewhere ventured to suggest Old Northern _ymia_, stridere; whence the name of the giant Ymir, in Northern mythology. The sense is that of a harsh and loud voice, which suggests huge stature. So, from Gaelic _fuaim_, noise, strepitus, comes _fuaimhair_, a giant, of which we may possibly have a lingering tradition in the nursery--"Fee, Fa, _Fum_" representing the giant's dreaded war-cry. And from what follows, "I smell the blood of an _Englishman_," one might almost think of the nurse as a Saxon, and the ogre as one of the earlier Celtic race, who might in those days be dangerous neighbours. I give below the stem, with its branches, so far as it forms names of women. It also enters into some compounds, one of which, Americo, bequeathed by the Franks or Lombards to Italy, has the honour of giving the name to America. Stem _im_ or _em_. _Names of men._--O.G. Immo, Himmo, Emmo (among others, three bishops in the seventh and ninth centuries). A.S. Imma, found in Imman beorh, "Imma's barrow, or grave." Imma, Hemma, Hemmi, about the tenth century in the _Liber Vitæ_. Eama, Anglo-Saxon moneyer. _Names of women._--O.G. Imma, Emma (among others Emma, daughter of Charlemagne). _Present surnames._--Eng. Him (?), Yem (?). Germ. Imm, Ihm. French, Eme, Emy. With the ending in _en_, p. 27. _Names of men._--O.G. Imino, Emino, eighth century. A.S. Immine, a Mercian general, seventh century. Emino, _Liber Vitæ_. _Names of women._--O.G. Immina, Emmina, eighth century. Early Eng. Ymana, Ymaine, _Liber Vitæ_. _Present surnames._--Eng. Emeney. Fr. Emmon. Ending in _lin_, p. 31. _Names of women._--O.G. Emelina, eleventh century. Emalina, twelfth century, _Liber Vitæ_.