Esmeralda
The story
Esmeralda is the Spanish and Portuguese word for emerald, from the Greek smaragdos by way of Latin, the deep green stone long tied to spring, renewal and the eye. As a name it arrived through story. Victor Hugo gave it to the beautiful, kind-hearted dancer at the center of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and her name has carried that mix of warmth and tragedy ever since, through opera, ballet and film. It sits in the grand tradition of naming girls for jewels, alongside Ruby and Pearl and Jade, but with more music in it. In the United States Esmeralda reads as current as ever, strongest around the 2000s, especially beloved in Spanish-speaking families. Lush and romantic, with the ready short forms Esme and Esmé, it hands a child a green jewel and a heroine famous above all for her kindness.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Esmeralda peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
20,005 people · the #1,069 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 10,101 · median age 51
Among people named Esmeralda living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 1,669 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Esmeralda
Most people given the name Esmeralda in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Esmeralda deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Esmeralda 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 Esmeralda fits with your family’s names and surname.
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