Esmee
Feminine · “esteemed”
Esmee is the French Esmé, and it is unusual among names in being a past participle: esteemed, or loved. It has been used in Britain and the Netherlands for a long time and in America only recently.
How old is the name Esmee?
Esmee first appears in US birth records in 2000 — 25 years ago. The typical Esmee is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Esmee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Esmee most popular?
Esmee peaked in 2019, reaching #2305 nationally. Today it ranks #3296, 991 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From esmer to Esmee
The story of Esmee
Esmé entered Scottish use in the sixteenth century with a French duke of the Lennox family and stayed there as a men's name for generations before crossing to the women's side in the twentieth century. The Netherlands took it up independently and spells it Esmee, without the accent, which is now the most common form in Dutch records. It reaches American use from both directions, and the accentless spelling suits American systems.
Meaning
esteemed, beloved
From Old French esmer, to esteem or to value, itself from Latin aestimare; the name is the past participle, so it means the one who is esteemed rather than one who esteems.
How the name formed
- esmer
- Esmé
- Esmee
Related forms: Esmé · Esmee · Esme
Pronouncing Esmee
EZ-may
Two syllables, first stressed. Dutch says ES-may with a sharper s, and some English speakers say ez-MAY.
Nicknames for Esmee
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
- 2000
- Most girls named
- 201978 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2305reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- +11.9%47 in 2025, from 42
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.
Esmee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Esmé in French — same name
- Esmee in Dutch — same name
- Esme in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Esmees among us
people named Esmee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 34,197 born in 2025 was named Esmee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Esmee
- #3296
- Esmee on the 2025 chart
- #286
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Esmee went to 47 girls in 2025, but Esme and Ezme are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 1,104, which makes it the 286th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,010 places above the chart.
- Esme1,032
- Esmee47
- Ezme25
About 1 girl in 1,456 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 34,197 for Esmee 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 Silver test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Esmee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Silver climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Silver's path sketches the road Esmee is walking now.
Esmee 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 Esmee is headed
Esmee should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Esmee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Esmee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning of unusual grammatical interest — a name that is a participle.
- The accentless spelling survives American forms that strip diacritics.
- Five letters and two syllables, easy to write early.
- Esme and Esmé are both current and the spelling will be asked for.
- The stress is unsettled in English between the first and second syllables.
- A popular vampire novel gave the name a strong association for one generation.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Esmee 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 Esmee? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Esmee
Feminine · #3296 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Esmees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Esmee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Esmee?
- Esmee is one of 3 recorded spellings. Esme is the more common one — 1,032 births in 2025 against 47 for Esmee.
- How popular is the name Esmee in 2025?
- Esmee ranks #3296 among US girl names in 2025, with 47 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Esmee?
- About 1 in every 34,197 US girls born in 2025 was named Esmee — 47 in all.
- Will my child share the name Esmee with classmates?
- Esmee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Esmee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Neva#3296 · Aleyda#3296 · Kaylor#3296 · Nalia#3296 · Anyeli#3296 · Izabel#3296 · Landri#3296 · Rhoda#3296
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Esmee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Esmee 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