Esai
Masculine · “the Lord is salvation”
Esai is a Spanish form of Isaiah, and the Hebrew is a complete sentence — the Lord is salvation, which is also the sentence inside the name Joshua.
How old is the name Esai?
Esai first appears in US birth records in 1987 — 38 years ago. The typical Esai alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 2,400 people named Esai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Esai most popular?
Esai peaked in 2002, reaching #1258 nationally. Today it ranks #1585, 327 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yeshayahu to Esai
The story of Esai
Isaías is the standard Spanish form of the prophet's name, and Spanish-speaking American families produced Esai, Esaí and Isai as shorter forms. The name gained visibility through an American actor of that name from the 1990s. Esai appears in the American registers from that decade and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
the Lord is salvation
Usually read through Isaías, the Spanish of Isaiah, from the Hebrew Yeshayahu — yasha, 'to save', and Yahu, the divine name. A second route reads Esai as a form of Jesse, Hebrew Yishai, whose meaning is unrecovered. Both are in use among Spanish-speaking families.
How the name formed
- Yeshayahu
- Isaías
- Esai
Related forms: Isaías · Isai · Yeshayahu
Pronouncing Esai
eh-SY
Two syllables, stress on the second. Spanish Isaías has three with the stress on the third.
Nicknames for Esai
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1987
- Most boys named
- 2024119 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1258reached in 2002
- Change vs 2024
- −10.1%107 in 2025, from 119
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Esai in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Isaías in Spanish — related form
- Isai in English — spelling variant
- Yeshayahu in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Arizona.
Esais among us
people named Esai are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 15,963 born in 2025 was named Esai
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Esai
- #1585
- Esai on the 2025 chart
- #804
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Esai went to 107 boys in 2025, but Ezai is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 124, which makes it the 804th most-given boys’ name of the year — 781 places above the chart.
- Esai107
- Ezai17
About 1 boy in 13,775 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 15,963 for Esai itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Derron test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Esai's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Derron climbed just as high around 1968, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Derron's path sketches the road Esai is walking now.
Esai sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Esai is headed
Esai looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 28% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Esai beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Esai in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a complete statement and is undisputed for the Isaiah route.
- One of the great prophetic books stands behind it.
- The end stress gives it a strong rhythm against a front-stressed surname.
- The parent name is split between Isaiah and Jesse.
- Isai and Esai are both in use and will be confused.
- English speakers will need the stress explained.
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Esai
Masculine · #1585 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Esais are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Esai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Esai?
- Esai is the most-used spelling in US records — 107 of the 124 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ezai.
- How popular is the name Esai in 2025?
- Esai ranks #1585 among US boy names in 2025, with 107 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Esai?
- About 1 in every 15,963 US boys born in 2025 was named Esai — 107 in all.
- Will my child share the name Esai with classmates?
- Esai will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Esai
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sulaiman#1585 · Zohan#1585 · Terrence#1585 · Chester#1585 · Karl#1585 · Nisaiah#1585 · Said#1585 · Delijah#1585
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Esai? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Esai and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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