Esmond
Masculine · “Old English east and mund”
Thackeray wrote an entire novel in eighteenth-century prose. The History of Henry Esmond, published in 1852, is set in the reign of Queen Anne and written throughout in the idiom of the period, including the spelling, and it was printed in an antique typeface to match.
How old is the name Esmond?
Esmond first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Esmond alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 300 people named Esmond are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Esmond most popular?
Esmond peaked in 1907, reaching #1345 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 8,369 places below that high. See the whole 1907 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From est to Esmond
The story of Esmond
Thackeray's Henry Esmond is one of the most sustained technical feats in English fiction. The narrator is a Jacobite officer writing his memoirs in the third person about his own youth in the 1700s, and the whole book is composed in the diction, syntax and orthography of the period; the first edition was set in an eighteenth-century font to complete the illusion. Thackeray researched it heavily and thought it his best work. The plot involves the Old Pretender, a long unrequited attachment, and an ending that has divided readers for a century and a half. The novel revived the name Esmond in Victorian Britain, and a sequel, The Virginians, follows the family to America. It is one of the small number of names owed almost entirely to a single nineteenth-century book.
Meaningscholars disagree
Old English east and mund, grace and protection
Esmond is from an Old English personal name, generally read as est, grace or beauty, or east, plus mund, protection, the same legal element as in Edmund and Raymond. It survived mainly as a surname and was revived as a given name in the nineteenth century. The American peak is 1907.
How the name formed
- est
- mund
- Esmond
Related forms: Esmund · Edmund
Pronouncing Esmond
EZ-mund
Two syllables, stress on the first. The s is said as a z. Esmond and Esmund are homophones.
Nicknames for Esmond
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
- 1907
- Most boys named
- 192414 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1345reached in 1907
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%7 in 2025, from 7
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.
Esmond in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Esmund in English — spelling variant
- Edmund in English — related form
Esmonds among us
people named Esmond are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Esmond
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
Esmond 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
Esmond beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Esmond in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- The Old English elements have documented legal meanings.
- Es works as a short form.
- It is closely tied to one Victorian novel.
- Edmund and Esmond are easily confused.
- The 1907 peak places it over a century ago.
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Esmond
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Esmonds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Esmond are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Esmond in 2025?
- Esmond ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Esmond?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Esmond — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Esmond with classmates?
- Esmond will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Esmond
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Esmond? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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