Esmeralda
Feminine · “emerald”
Esmeralda is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 51,571 girls against 180 boys since 1880.
The word behind it is old: Greek merchants called the green gemstone smaragdos, Latin took it as smaragdus, and Spanish smoothed it into esmeralda — the emerald. Victor Hugo gave it to the dancer at the center of Notre-Dame de Paris in 1831, and the name has been traveling in novels, operas and films ever since. Four syllables with the stress landing warm in the middle: ez-muh-RAHL-duh.
How old is the name Esmeralda?
Esmeralda first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Esmeralda alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 50,000 people named Esmeralda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Esmeralda most popular?
Esmeralda peaked in 1998, reaching #133 nationally. Today it ranks #373, 240 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Where it comes from
From Smaragdos to Esmeralda
The story of Esmeralda
The gem word is ancient and much-traveled — Greek smaragdos, Latin smaragdus, with cousins in Persian and Sanskrit for the same green stone. Spanish and Portuguese turned it into esmeralda, and from there it became a given name in the Iberian world and across Latin America. Victor Hugo's 1831 novel Notre-Dame de Paris carried it into French and English reading rooms, and the many stage and screen versions of that story kept it circulating far beyond Spanish-speaking families. In the United States it has been on the books for well over a century, with its deepest roots in states with large Mexican-American communities.
Meaning
emerald
Esmeralda is simply the Spanish and Portuguese word for the gemstone, from Greek smaragdos through Latin smaragdus.
How the name formed
- Smaragdos
- Smaragdus
- Esmeralda
Related forms: Esmeralda · Esmeralda · Esmeralda · Smaragda · Smaranda · Emerald
Pronouncing Esmeralda
ez-muh-RAHL-duh
Spanish speakers say it es-meh-RAHL-dah, with a crisper s and a fuller final vowel. Both are correct; the stress falls on RAHL either way.
Nicknames for Esmeralda
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
- 1911
- Most girls named
- 19991,765 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #133reached in 1998
- Change vs 2023
- −9.3%823 in 2025, from 907
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.
Esmeralda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Esmeralda in Spanish — same name
- Esmeralda in Portuguese — same name
- Esmeralda in Italian — same name
- Smaragda in Greek — related form
- Smaranda in Romanian — related form
- Emerald in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Esmeraldas among us
people named Esmeralda are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,953 born in 2025 was named Esmeralda
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 Miriam test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Esmeralda's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Miriam climbed just as high around 1917, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Miriam's path sketches the road Esmeralda is walking now.
Esmeralda 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 Esmeralda is headed
Esmeralda 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.
Esmeralda beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Esmeralda in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads the same in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and English — spelling and stress hold up across all four.
- The meaning is plain and undisputed: emerald, the green stone.
- Esme is a ready-made short form with a long independent life of its own.
- Long record behind it: a gem word in Greek and Latin, a given name in the Iberian world for centuries.
- Distinctive in American classrooms while still being a word most people recognize on sight.
- It gets misspelled Esmerelda often enough that she will likely spend a lifetime correcting that one vowel.
- Hugo's character is the best-known bearer, and the novel and its film versions frame her through a Romani stereotype and an ethnic slur. Some families find that association charming; others would rather not invite it.
- Four syllables is a lot of name, so expect it to be shortened by teachers and friends whether or not you plan on a nickname.
- Strongest by far in California, Texas and Florida, so how familiar it sounds will vary a good deal depending on where the family lives.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Esmeralda
Feminine · #373 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Esmeraldas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 50,000 people named Esmeralda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Esmeralda in 2025?
- Esmeralda ranks #373 among US girl names in 2025, with 823 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Esmeralda?
- About 1 in every 1,953 US girls born in 2025 was named Esmeralda — 823 in all.
- Will my child share the name Esmeralda with classmates?
- Esmeralda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Esmeralda
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Mallory#372 · Malani#374 · Anya#375 · Jordyn#371 · Astrid#376 · Adhara#370 · Vanessa#377 · Raya#369
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Esmeralda? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Esmeralda and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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