Esmerelda
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "emerald".
Name Census estimates that about 730 living Americans carry the first name Esmerelda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Esmerelda today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Esmerelda births was 2021 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Esmerelda. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Esmerelda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
730
~ 1 in 469,526 Americans
Peak year
2021
39 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,300
Tracked since 1971
Census
Esmerelda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,712 people with the first name Esmerelda, which placed it at #8,469 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
#8,469
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,712 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
88.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Esmerelda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Esmerelda is Hispanic at 88.1%. The next largest groups are White (7.5%) and Black (1.7%). 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 Esmerelda 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 Esmerelda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino88.1% · 1,509
- White7.5% · 128
- Black or African American1.7% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 16
- Two or more races0.7% · 12
Popularity
Esmerelda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Esmerelda from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 183 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Esmerelda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Esmerelda 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 Esmerelda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Esmereldas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Esmerelda
The name Esmerelda is of Spanish and French origin, derived from the Old French name "Esmeraudee" or the Spanish "Esmeralda," both meaning "emerald." It gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in Spain and France.
Esmerelda was a name commonly used among the higher classes and noble families during the 12th and 13th centuries. The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to a Spanish noblewoman named Esmerelda de Navarra, who lived in the late 12th century.
In literature, the name gained widespread recognition through Victor Hugo's famous novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," published in 1831. The character of Esmerelda, a beautiful gypsy dancer, played a significant role in the story and contributed to the name's popularity.
One of the earliest historical figures with the name Esmerelda was Esmerelda de Ponce de León (c. 1356-1418), a Spanish noblewoman and the daughter of the Count of Arcos. Another notable bearer of the name was Esmerelda de Malaga (c. 1460-1520), a Spanish poet and writer during the Renaissance period.
In the 19th century, Esmerelda Annersley (1858-1924) was a British educator and headmistress of the prestigious St. Paul's Girls' School in London. Esmerelda Pankhurst (1858-1928), a British political activist and a prominent member of the Women's Social and Political Union, was also known by this name.
Esmerelda Parra (1900-1977) was a Mexican actress and singer who appeared in numerous films during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Esmerelda Santiago (born 1948) is a Puerto Rican author and memoirist, best known for her memoir "When I Was Puerto Rican."
While the name Esmerelda has remained relatively uncommon, it has maintained a presence throughout history, particularly in Spanish and French-speaking regions, and has been associated with notable individuals from various fields.
People
Esmerelda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Esmerelda 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
Esmerelda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Esmerelda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 730 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Esmerelda 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 469,526 US residents.
Is Esmerelda a common name?
We classify Esmerelda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 749 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Esmerelda most popular?
The single biggest year for Esmerelda was 2021, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Esmerelda is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Esmerelda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,712 people with the name Esmerelda, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,469 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 Esmerelda 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 Esmerelda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Esmerelda appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,708 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Esmerelda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Esmerelda is Hispanic at 88.1%. The next largest groups are White (7.5%) and Black (1.7%). 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 Esmerelda most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Esmerelda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.1% (1,509 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 Esmerelda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Esmerelda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Esmerelda in the SSA data are female. 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 Esmerelda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Esmerelda 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 Esmerelda 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 Esmerelda as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.