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Esme

#298 in 2025Girls' name

Emerald, through Esmeralda

Esme has been given to 10,930 babies in the U.S. since 1913. In 2025 it ranked #298 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2022, with 1,053 recorded.

Babies named Esme, 2025

1 in 3,210

Esme over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05001K1.5K18801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Esme: meaning, origin, and history

Emerald, through Esmeralda

French

What Esme means

Esme belongs to the name family reached through Esme → Esmeralda. Its meaning is “emerald”.

Origin, language, and formation

Esme is used in English and Estonian. Its origins include French.

Esme comes through French Esmé.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Esmeralda.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10,920 girls were recorded with the name Esme between 1913 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 1,053 in 2022; its best national rank was #298 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #395 in 2020 to #298 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #681 in 2015 to #298 in 2025.

In the United States, 10 boys were recorded with the name Esme between 2016 and 2021. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2016; its best national rank was #12,711 in 2021.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Esme?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 3,210
1,032 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 1,560
0.06% of girls
Rank, 2025
#298
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
2,228 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Esme sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 1003%
School of 50014%

Put another way: gather 2,228 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Esme. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Esmes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Esme was born before 2020 — so the typical Esme is around 5 today.

Median birth year
2020
About 5 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
50.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
96.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
10,910
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 50.9% of all recorded uses (5,559).

Is Esme rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+45
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+97
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+383
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.46×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
98.0%
Peak was 2022 (1,053)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#298
2025

Spellings of Esme

Esme is not the most common spelling — Emma is, with 54.9% against Esme's 0.77%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Esme is used

Across 2016–2025, Esme was most concentrated in Maine — about 1 in 541 girls, against 1 in 1,814 across all states with data. It was least common in Mississippi (1 in 20,000).

5185 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Maine1 in 541
  2. 2Minnesota1 in 752
  3. 3Rhode Island1 in 775
  4. 4Oregon1 in 806
  5. 5South Dakota1 in 833
  6. 6New Mexico1 in 840
  7. 7District of Columbia1 in 901
  8. 8Massachusetts1 in 1,031

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Esme is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 48% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Esme around the world

Where Esme ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #45
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1990–2025
    #38
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2003–2025
    #65
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1975–2025
    #135
    in 2025
  • France
    1976–2025
    #799
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1993–2024
    #238
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1944–2013
    #403
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Esme

People whose public names include Esme, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Esme in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Esme. Linked forms have their own page here.

Esmee

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Esme by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#298
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 97
Best rank ever
#298
2025
Peak year
2022
1,053 that year
First recorded
1913
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10,920
Count in 2025
1,032

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#12,711
2021
Peak year
2016
5 that year
First recorded
2016
Last recorded
2021
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Esme

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

EsmaEsmaeEsmeeEsmiEsmayEsmieEsmeraldaEsmerayEsmyEsmereldaEsmarieRenesmeEsmariEsmeraeEsmerEsmeryEsmerieEsmirnaEsmiaEsmiraEsmaraeEsmeraiEsmeaEsmei

Names with a curve like Esme

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Esme, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

WynterAlayaEmoryKalaniAntonellaMilaniAzaleaAlessiaLilithKailaniCataleyaMaisie

Sibling names for Esme

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Esme

Top names of 2022, Esme's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Girls' names starting with EUnique Girl Names