Esme
Feminine · Latin roots · “esteemed”
Esme is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 10,920 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
Esme began as a French word rather than a name — esmé, "esteemed," the kind of thing you might say about a person you were glad to have. It crossed to Scotland in the sixteenth century, where Esmé Stuart, 1st Duke of Lennox, carried it as a man's name, and it has been shortening comfortably to Es and Essie ever since. Two syllables, no spare parts.
How old is the name Esme?
Esme first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Esme is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 11,000 people named Esme are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Esme most popular?
Esme peaked in 2025, reaching #298 nationally. Today it ranks #298, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Esme appears on these lists:
Works in French families too:
Where it comes from
From aestimare (Latin) to Esme
The story of Esme
The word came first: esmé, the past participle of Old French esmer, a verb of valuing and esteeming descended from Latin aestimare. As a personal name it appears in French and then Scottish aristocratic use from the sixteenth century, worn by men as often as women — Esmé Stuart, 1st Duke of Lennox, is the best-documented early bearer. Over the following centuries it settled onto the feminine side in English, and J. D. Salinger's 1953 story "For Esmé — with Love and Squalor" fixed that spelling in the minds of a generation of readers. In the United States it has been on the record for well over a century, quietly, and the recent climb is a fresh chapter rather than a first appearance.
Meaning
esteemed, loved
From the Old French participle esmé, from esmer "to esteem, to value" (ultimately Latin aestimare). Both glosses — "esteemed" and "loved" — are standard.
How the name formed
- aestimareLatin
- esmer / esméOld French
- Esmé
- Esme
Related forms: Esmé · Esmée · Esmee · Esmeralda
Pronouncing Esme
EZ-may
EZ-may is the usual American reading; EZ-mee is common in Britain and heard here too. Both are correct, so it helps to pick one and repeat it early. The stress stays on the first syllable either way.
Nicknames for Esme
High
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
- 1913
- Most girls named
- 20221,053 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #298reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +13.7%1,032 in 2025, from 908
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.
Esme in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Esmé in French — same name
- Esmée in Dutch — spelling variant
- Esmee in English — spelling variant
- Esmeralda in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas. International figures from National Records of Scotland, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Esmes among us
people named Esme are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,557 born in 2025 was named Esme
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Lorna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Esme's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lorna climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lorna's path sketches the road Esme is walking now.
Esme is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Esme is headed
Esme should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Esme beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Esme in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Already short — no shortening required, though Es and Essie are there if wanted.
- A documented line running back through sixteenth-century Scotland and France to an Old French word, unbroken since.
- Charts in Scotland and in England and Wales as well as the US, so it reads as a name rather than a puzzle across the English-speaking world.
- Spelled the way it sounds once the reading is known, and short enough to be written by a small hand.
- The two pronunciations, EZ-may and EZ-mee, both have real standing. Expect to correct people occasionally for life — mildly, not constantly.
- The accent is a decision: Esmé is the older French form, Esme the plainer one. US forms and databases handle bare Esme more gracefully.
- Esme Cullen of the Twilight novels is the association many adults will reach for first. It fades with each year, but it is worth knowing it is there.
- The name is climbing quickly. A child born now may meet more Esmes at fifteen than at five — still nowhere near a crowd, but not the singular it is today.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Esme
Feminine · Latin roots · #298 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Esmes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 11,000 people named Esme are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Esme in 2025?
- Esme ranks #298 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,032 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Esme?
- About 1 in every 1,557 US girls born in 2025 was named Esme — 1,032 in all.
- Will my child share the name Esme with classmates?
- Esme will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Esme
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leia#297 · Elowyn#299 · Sylvia#300 · Dakota#295 · Evelynn#301 · Blake#295 · Kimberly#302 · Daniela#302
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Esme? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Esme and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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