🔥Esme

EZ-may
French
"beloved"

Esme Origin and Meaning

The name Esme is a girl's name of French, Persian origin meaning "beloved".

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.

# 325 in the US

Esme Rank in US Top 1000

# 20 on Nameberry

Esme Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Esme Popularity

Famous People Named Esme

  • 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"