Esme
Top 1000
About Esme
Esmé comes from the past participle of the Old French verb esmer, meaing "to esteem" or "to love." It can also be considered a derivative of the Spanish name Esmeralda, which means "emerald".
Esmé began life as a masculine name, as in its original bearer, Esmé Stewart,1st Duke of Lennox, and Esmée, with the same pronunciation, was the feminine form. Today both spellings are used as feminine given names, along with Anglicizations including Esmay and Esmae.
Esmé is a sweet, sophisticated and charming literary name, from J. D. Salinger's classic 1950 story For Esmé, With Love and Squalor. Esme is also one of the most stylish baby names that mean love.
A current favorite among celebs, including Samantha Morton, Michael J. Fox and Katey Sagal, Esme got a lot of publicity via the character Esme Cullen, the vampire matriarch of the Olympic Coven in the Twilight Saga. Esme has long been more popular across the pond in the UK, where it currently makes the Top 50 baby girl names.
The final accent indicates the pronunciation of ez-may, though in English you can just spell it Esme. Whatever the spelling, Esme is one of the fastest-rising girl names starting with E.
Pronounced EZ-may.
As of October 2026, Esme ranked #298 in US births in 2025 SSA, Nameberry popularity #22.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #812 | 342 | 191.5 |
| 2015 | #680 | 419 | 234.7 |
| 2016 | #682 | 431 | 243.2 |
| 2017 | #585 | 513 | 297.1 |
| 2018 | #548 | 565 | 332.1 |
| 2019 | #426 | 744 | 443.3 |
| 2020 | #396 | 787 | 486.8 |
| 2021 | #377 | 826 | 503.4 |
| 2022 | #303 | 1,052 | 641.4 |
| 2023 | #325 | 950 | 592.1 |
| 2024 | #344 | 901 | 556.1 |
| 2025 | #298 | 1,032 | 642.1 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Esme.
- Thea
- Elodie
- Freya
- Adelaide
- Vera
- Imogen
- Maeve
- Astrid
- Emmeline
- Rosalie
- Cora
- Evangeline
- Faye
- Delilah
- Phoebe
- Saoirse
- Elowen
- Genevieve
- Vivienne
- Daphne
Esme on lists
Famous Esmes
- Esme Rosemary Irwin
English cricketer
- Esme Langley
English writer
- Esme Mackinnon
Scottish Olympic skier
- Esme Grace Melville
Australian actress
- Esme Irene Tombleson
New Zealand politician
- Esme Bianco
English actress, model and performer
- Esme Patterson
lead singer of American band Paper Bird
- Esme Jane Gardner
American Gardner quadruplet
- Esme Scarborough
daughter of actor Adrian Scarborough
- Esme Perrygrove (1991)
daughter of Ian Dickson
- Esme Edwards (1997)
daughter of actor Anthony Edwards
- Esme Creed
Miles (2000), daughter of Samantha Morton
- Esme Annabelle Fox (2001)
daughter of Michael J. Fox
- Esme Norton (2004)
daughter of Shelley Miranda Barrett and Richard Norton
- Esme Louise Sutter (2007)
daughter of Kurt Sutter & Katey Sagal
- Esme Regan (b. 2007)
daughter of actors Vincent Regan and Amelia Curtis
- Esme Stephenson (b. 2008)
daughter of actress Nicola Stephenson
- Esme Marlena Jones (b. 2008)
daughter of actors Alicia Coppola and Anthony Michael Jones
- Esme Bibi Ayoade (b. 2009)
daughter of Lydia Fox & Richard Ayoade
- Esme Alexa Ingham (b.2009)
Youtuber
- Esme Eccleston (b. 2013)
son of Christopher Eccleston
- Esme Olivia Olsen (2016)
daughter of Eric Christian Olsen & Sarah Wright Olsen
Esme in pop culture
- Esme Watson
from Australian TV's "A Country Practice"
- Esme
"For Esme with Love and Squalor," by J. D. Salinger
- Esme Cullen
vampire mother in the Twilight Saga
- Esme Amarinth
male character in "The Green Carnation"
- Esme Gigi Genevieve Squalor
antagonist in Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events"
- Esme Rockett
character in "Sister Mischief" by Laura Goode
- Esme
character in The Recognitions by William Gaddis
- Esme Murray
character on TV's "Hamish Macbeth"
- Esme Carter Taylor
from "Anne of Windy Poplars"
- Esme
ghost on children's television series "Dani's Castle"
- Esme Cuckoo
mutant in X,Men comics
- Esme Song
a character in Degrassi: Next Class
- Esme Vanderheusen
character on American soap "Passions"
- Esme Weatherwax
witch in Terry Pratchett's "Discworld"
- Esme Castillo
character in "The Dollhouse" by Fiona Davis
- Esme Shelby (née Lee)
character from Peaky Blinders
- Esme Frost
character in the TV show "The Gifted"
- “Esme”
2010 song by Joanna Newsom