Esco
One of uncertain origin, possibly from a shortening of Spanish or French names.
Name Census estimates that about 69 living Americans carry the first name Esco. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Esco today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Esco births was 1916 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Esco. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Esco is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Escos were born before 1967.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Esco. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
69
~ 1 in 4,967,454 Americans
Peak year
1916
15 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
2019 SSA rank
#12,729
Tracked since 1901
Census
Esco in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 149 people with the first name Esco, which placed it at #45,514 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#45,514
National first-name rank
People counted
149
149 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
40.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Esco
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Esco is Black at 40.9%. The next largest groups are White (36.2%) and Hispanic (10.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Esco described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Esco at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American40.9% · 61
- White36.2% · 54
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 16
- Two or more races7.4% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 2
Popularity
Esco: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Esco from the 1900s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 90 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Esco by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Esco during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Escos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Esco
The given name Esco has its origins in the ancient Germanic languages, specifically the Old High German word "esco", which translates to "ash tree". This name likely emerged during the early medieval period, around the 6th to 8th centuries AD, across various regions of central Europe inhabited by Germanic tribes.
Esco was a relatively uncommon name in historical records, but it did appear in a few notable instances. One of the earliest documented individuals bearing this name was Esco the Younger, a Frankish nobleman who lived in the late 8th century and served as a courtier under Charlemagne's reign.
In the 11th century, a man named Esco of Avranches was a prominent Norman knight who participated in the Norman conquest of England in 1066. He was rewarded with lands in Wiltshire and is mentioned in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror.
During the High Middle Ages, a monk named Esco of St. Albans lived in the early 12th century and was known for his contributions to the monastery's library and scriptoria. He is credited with transcribing several important manuscripts that have survived to this day.
In the 15th century, an Italian scholar and humanist named Esco Piccolomini gained recognition for his translations of ancient Greek texts into Latin. He was born in Siena in 1420 and served as a tutor to several prominent Renaissance figures.
Another notable bearer of the name Esco was a 16th-century German painter, Esco Grünwald, who was active in the city of Nuremberg. His works, primarily religious paintings and altarpieces, can still be found in various churches and museums across southern Germany.
While the name Esco has faded in popularity over time, it remains a unique and historically significant moniker with roots stretching back to the early medieval era and the Germanic linguistic traditions of central Europe.
People
Esco + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Esco as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Esco: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Esco?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 69 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Esco going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 4,967,454 US residents.
Is Esco a common name?
We classify Esco as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 304 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Esco most popular?
The single biggest year for Esco was 1916, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Esco is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Esco in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 149 people with the name Esco, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,514 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Esco in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Esco?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Esco leans strongly male. 140 people counted with this name were male (94.6%), compared with 8 female bearers (5.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Esco?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Esco is Black at 40.9%. The next largest groups are White (36.2%) and Hispanic (10.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Esco most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Esco in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.9% (61 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Esco in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Esco a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Esco in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Esco still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Esco in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Esco can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Esco as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.