Esma
Feminine · “Names”
Esma has two roads into English and the American record does not say which one it took. In Turkish and Bosnian it is Asmāʾ, the Arabic word for names, borne by the daughter of Abu Bakr. In nineteenth-century America it is more likely a cousin of Esme and Emma. The peak, in 1890, sits well before Turkish immigration.
How old is the name Esma?
Esma first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Esma alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 500 people named Esma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Esma most popular?
Esma peaked in 1890, reaching #1006 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 4,232 places below that high. See the whole 1890 chart.
Where it comes from
From Asmāʾ to Esma
Our story of Esma
Late-nineteenth-century American birth records are full of short, vowel-rich women's names that shade into each other: Alma, Elma, Esma, Ella, Emma, Etta, Ora, Ola, Ida. They rhyme, they are all two syllables, and the census takers and clerks who wrote them down were not consistent. Some are established European names, some are respellings, and some appear to have been assembled locally out of the same handful of sounds. Esma sits squarely in that group, and its 1890 peak belongs to it. The Turkish Esma is a completely genuine name with a completely separate history, ordinary in Turkey and Bosnia today — and the two arrive at the same four letters without ever having met.
Meaningscholars disagree
Names, or the loftier
Turkish and Bosnian Esma is the local form of Arabic Asmāʾ, the plural of ism, name — a settled etymology for that name, though some sources instead read it as an elative of samā, height, giving the loftier. The American Esma of the 1880s and 1890s is a separate problem: it appears alongside Esther, Esma, Elma, Alma and Emma and may simply be a variant of one of them. No source establishes which.
How the name formed
- Asmāʾ
- Esma
Related forms: Esma · أسماء · Esma · Esma
Pronouncing Esma
ESS-mah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Turkish gives the final a a full open value; American English reduces it to a schwa, ESS-muh.
Nicknames for Esma
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
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 202437 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1006reached in 1890
- Change vs 2024
- −35.1%24 in 2025, from 37
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.
Esma in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Esma in Turkish — same name
- أسماء in Arabic — related form
- Esma in Bosnian — same name
- Esma in Albanian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Missouri, Georgia.
Esmas among us
people named Esma are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Esma
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
Esma 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
Esma beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Esma in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two syllables, easy to spell and to say anywhere.
- It is a genuine and ordinary name in Turkey, Bosnia and Albania.
- Essie is available as a warm short form.
- Esme, Esma and Emma are close enough to be written for each other.
- The two possible sources give it two quite different meanings.
- In American ears it sounds either Victorian or foreign, with little middle ground.
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Esma
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Esmas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Esma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Esma in 2025?
- Esma ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Esma?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Esma — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Esma with classmates?
- Esma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Esma
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Yashika#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Esma? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Esma and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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