Esme
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Meaning
traditionally translated as 'esteemed' or 'loved'
Also written Esmé.
The story
Esme is old French for the esteemed and loved, a name literature kept safe for a century: Salinger addressed a story to her with love and squalor in 1950, and a gentle vampire matriarch carried her through the biggest saga of the 2000s. The record barely knew the name before that: single and double digits for seventy years, about 190 in the 1990s, then 970, then 4,100 in the 2010s, and already 5,600 so far this decade, past the full total, riding the same UK-import current as Poppy, one entry down this same batch. In our records it goes to girls about 10,900 to ten. Two syllables, no ornament, and a built-in dedication: to Esme, with love, which is roughly what several thousand American families a year are now writing on the certificate.
The formal names behind Esme
Esme is an established short form of this name.
Esmeralda · Spanish origin · "emerald"
How popular is Esme around the world?
In the United States, 5,564 babies were named Esme between 2020 and 2025. In Scotland, 102 girls named Esme were registered in 2024, the 33rd most common name among girls that year.
Esme is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, England and Wales, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, South Australia, France, Austria, Argentina and Brazil.
United States
1 in 3,900
In the United States, 5,564 babies were named Esme between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Esme peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 450
In Scotland, 102 girls named Esme were registered in 2024, the 33rd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 630
In England and Wales, 933 girls named Esme were born in 2025, the 45th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
New Zealand
1 in 1,500
In New Zealand, 39 girls named Esme were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. This registry counts each spelling separately; the figures above are for the exact spelling Esme, and accented spellings are separate names. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Ireland
1 in 1,500
In Ireland, 35 girls named Esme were born in 2025, the 135th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. This registry counts each spelling separately; the figures above are for the exact spelling Esme, and accented spellings are separate names. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Canada
1 in 2,900
In Canada, 120 girls named Esme were born in 2024, the 238th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
South Australia
1 in 3,1002017
In South Australia, 6 girls were registered as Esme in 2017.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
France
1 in 13,000
In France, about 50 girls named Esme were born in 2025, the 799th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Austria
1 in 38,000
In Austria, 2 girls named Esme were born in 2025, ranked 1,305th among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Argentina
1 in 83,000
In Argentina, 8 newborns were given the name Esme in 2024.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 43 people in Brazil were named Esme, ranked 73,816th, with a median age of 10.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Poland
last on record 2024
Esme is not on the 2025 record for Poland, where names given fewer than 2 times in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City and Puerto Rico: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Esme
Most people given the name Esme in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Esme deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Esme truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Esme fits with your family’s names and surname.
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