Emily, Emeline, Amelia, Emma, etc.  The true origin of this name seems to be a moot point amongst those who have studied the question.  Some derive it from a Greek word meaning "flattering" or "witty," whilst others carry it back to the Teutonic Amal = work:  the second theory is probably the correct one.  Miss Yonge in her Christian Names suggests that the Aemilii of Rome and the Amaler of the Goth have a common ancestor in the Teutonic amal, meaning work; the same writer points out that maal or âmal means "work" in Hebrew also, and aml is Old-Norse for "work."
    Thus, from this remote Teutonic forefather amal, through the Greeks and Romans, have descended our household names of Emily, Emilie, Emmeline, Emeline, Emilia, Amelia, Millie,—and for boys Emmery and Amery.
    Emily Becchieri (1238-1314), to whom visions were granted, was informed by Christ in person that His greatest agony had been the three hours during which He hung on the Cross, and He promised Emily that He would grant the three theological virtues to all those who, at the third hour of the evening, repeated three Paters and three Avés, in memory of His Crucifixion.  On another occasion, whilst Emily was meditating on the Crown of Thorns, she prayed that she might be made to feel in her own person the anguish which Christ had suffered, whereupon Christ answered her by the mouth of her crucifix, saying that He would grant her wish; and forthwith Emily suffered such excruciating pain that for three days she had to keep her bed, and at the end of that time was restored to health only by some mysterious draught administered to her by Mary Magdalen and St. Catherine. (Girls' Christian Names, Swan, 1905)