Esau
Masculine · “hairy”
Esau is the elder twin of Genesis — the hunter, the one who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. It is one of the oldest names in the book and one of the very few whose meaning the text stops to explain.
How old is the name Esau?
Esau was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Esau alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 2,300 people named Esau are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Esau most popular?
Esau peaked in 1890, reaching #884 nationally. Today it ranks #3181, 2,297 places below that high. See the whole 1890 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Esav to Esau
The story of Esau
The story of Esau and Jacob is one of the central narratives of Genesis, and Esau becomes the ancestor of Edom in the biblical scheme. The name passed into Greek and Latin unchanged and reached English through the King James Bible. American Protestant families used it steadily in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when biblical names of every kind were in ordinary use, and it appears in the records without a break since.
Meaningscholars disagree
hairy
Genesis links the name to the child's appearance at birth, and hairy is the traditional reading. Hebrew scholarship has not settled the derivation: the connection made in the text is a wordplay rather than an etymology, and the name may be older than the explanation.
How the name formed
- Esav
- Esau
Related forms: Esav · Esaú · Al-Ays
Pronouncing Esau
EE-saw
Two syllables, first stressed. Spanish gives eh-sa-OO, with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Esau
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 200782 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #884reached in 1890
- Change vs 2022
- −15.9%37 in 2025, from 44
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.
Esau in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Esav in Hebrew — same name
- Esaú in Spanish — same name
- Al-Ays in Arabic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Illinois.
Esaus among us
people named Esau are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 46,164 born in 2025 was named Esau
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Esau 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 Esau is headed
Esau should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Esau beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Esau in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented biblical name with an unusually clear story attached to it.
- Four letters and two syllables, easy to write early.
- It is used in English, Spanish and Portuguese without change of spelling.
- The biblical Esau is treated unkindly by the tradition, and the story is well enough known to follow the name.
- The English and Spanish pronunciations differ in stress and in vowel.
- The meaning given in Genesis is a wordplay, so the honest answer has a qualification in it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Esau to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Esau? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Esau
Masculine · #3181 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Esaus are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Esau are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Esau in 2025?
- Esau ranks #3181 among US boy names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Esau?
- About 1 in every 46,164 US boys born in 2025 was named Esau — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Esau with classmates?
- Esau will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Esau
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Walden#3181 · Tobin#3181 · Keion#3181 · Artem#3181 · Arsh#3181 · Kris#3181 · Daren#3181 · Diamond#3181
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Esau? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Esau and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle