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Esta

#10,348 in 2025Girls' name

Diminutive of Esther

Esta has been given to 4,466 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #10,348 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1920, with 117 recorded.

Babies named Esta, 2025

1 in 368,000

Esta over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Esta: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Esther

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Esta means

Esta is a diminutive of Esther.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Esta → Esther. The family’s meaning is “Ishtar”, recorded in English with the source elements Ištar.

Origin, language, and formation

Esta is used in Estonian and Faroese.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Esther and Ester.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,439 girls were recorded with the name Esta between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 117 in 1920; its best national rank was #373 in 1891.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #11,413 in 2020 to #10,348 in 2025.

In the United States, 27 boys were recorded with the name Esta between 1881 and 1926. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1916; its best national rank was #914 in 1881.

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 Esta?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 368,000
9 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 179,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#10,348
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
255,323 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Esta 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 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 255,323 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Esta. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Estas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Esta was born before 1923 — so the typical Esta is around 102 today.

Median birth year
1923
About 102 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
19.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
1.9%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
693
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 19.6% of all recorded uses (872).

Is Esta 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
+1,071
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,065
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
7.7%
Peak was 1920 (117)
Years since peak
105
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
20.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#373
1891

Spellings of Esta

Esta is not the most common spelling — Emma is, with 28.3% against Esta's 0.16%.

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 Esta is used

Across 1910–2025, Esta was most concentrated in West Virginia — about 1 in 6,250 girls, against 1 in 63,079 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

016 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1West Virginia1 in 6,250
  2. 2Kentucky1 in 16,667
  3. 3Oklahoma1 in 25,000
  4. 4New York1 in 50,000
  5. 5Ohio1 in 50,000
  6. 6Texas1 in 50,000
  7. 7Arkansas1 in 100,000
  8. 8Indiana1 in 100,000

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. Esta has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Esta around the world

Where Esta 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
    #5,927
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2012–2019
    #3,370
    in 2019
  • South Australia
    1948–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Esta by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#10,348
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,065
Best rank ever
#373
1891
Peak year
1920
117 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,439
Count in 2025
9

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#914
1881
Peak year
1916
6 that year
First recorded
1881
Last recorded
1926
All-time count
27
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Esta

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

EstyEsterEstelaEsteeShastaEstellEstiEstefaniEstefanyVestaCalistaCristaKalistaEsteEstefaniaAstaEstelEstrellaKrystaEstellaEsthelaEstieEstelleAugusta

Names with a curve like Esta

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

ElmiraDelphiaVernieJettieAlmedaPinkieFloridaLovieVergieVivaZonaAltha

Sibling names for Esta

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 Esta

Top names of 1920, Esta's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1891Girls' names starting with E