Esmé (more commonly Esme) or Esmée is an English first name, from the past participle of the Old French verb '' esmer'', "to esteem", thus signifying "esteemed". Another theory is that ''esmer'' is an alternative spelling of today's ''aimer'', "to love", thus the name is ''aimé'', meaning "beloved", equivalent to the modern feminine first name "Amy". Originally a masculine name, Esme had become a feminine name by the mid-twentieth century. The name was first popularised by Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox (1542–1583), a French nobleman of Scottish origins who returned to Scotland for part of his life. However with regard to spelling (and pronunciation), on one of his surviving letters, dated 1583, he signed himself "Amy". Esme was among the 100 most popular baby names for girls in the UK in 2015. Esme is also used as a short form for the Spanish feminine name Esmeralda, meaning "emerald".

Notable bearers

Men

In order of birth: * Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox (1542–1583), Scottish earl of French descent * Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox (1579–1624), Scottish nobleman, younger son of the above * Esmé Stewart, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 5th Duke of Lennox (1649–1660), Scottish duke, grandson of 3rd Duke of Lennox * Esmé Collings (1859–1936), English photographer, miniaturist and early film pioneer *

Esmé Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith Esmé William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith, (15 September 1863 – 1 August 1939) was a British diplomat. He served as British Ambassador to the United States between 1924 and 1930. He was one of Britain's most influential diplomats ...

(1863–1939), British diplomat, Ambassador to the United States *

Esmé Cecil Wingfield-Stratford Esmé Cecil Wingfield-Stratford (1882–1971) was an English historian, writer, mind-trainer, outdoorsman, patriot and ruralist. Life Esmé was born on 20 September 1882 elder son of Brigadier-General Cecil Wingfield-Stratford (a descendant of ...

(1882–1971), English historian and writer *

Esme Percy Saville Esmé Percy (8 August 1887 – 17 June 1957) was an English actor who specialized in the plays of G.B. Shaw and appeared in 40 films between 1930 and 1956. He was born in London and died in Brighton. Partial filmography * ''Murder ...

(1887–1957), British actor * Esme Haywood (1900–1985), English cricketer *

Esmé Gordon Alexander Esmé Gordon (12 September 1910 – 31 May 1993) was a Scottish Modernist architect, writer, and painter who served as Secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy between 1973 and 1978. Born in Edinburgh and educated at Edinburgh Academy ...

(1910–1993), Scottish architect * Esme Mends (born 1986), Ghanaian football player

Women

In order of birth: *Esmè Stuart, pen name of

Amélie Claire Leroy Amélie Claire Leroy (1851–1934) was an English writer, who wrote over 60 works often using the pseudonym Esmè Stuart. Life Leroy lived for a while with the novelist Anna Rachel Bramston (Witham 1848/9–1931) and they adopted a daughter cal ...

(1851–1934), English writer * Esme Church (1893–1972), British actress and theatre director *

Esmé Wynne-Tyson Esmé Wynne-Tyson (29 June 1898 – 17 January 1972) was an English actress, writer and philosopher. As a child she acted in West End plays, and became a close friend, confidante, and collaborator of Noël Coward. She left the stage in 1920 a ...

(1898–1972), English actress and writer *

Esme Grant Esme Melbro Grant (née Muir; 20 September 1920 – 25 August 1987) was a Jamaican politician. She was one of the first women elected to the Parliament of Jamaica. Political career She was JLP candidate for Westmoreland Central in the 1962 Jam ...

(20th-century), Jamaican politician *

Esme Mackinnon Esmé Mackinnon (2 December 1913 – 9 July 1999), known as Muffie, was a British alpine skier from Edinburgh, Scotland, remembered as the first female FIS World Champion in both downhill and slalom. She was a member of the Ladies' Ski Clu ...

(1913-1999), British skier *

Esmé Hooton Esmé Gladys Hooton (1914–1992) was an English poet. She is the author of two collections of poetry: ''City Sonnets'', published by Routledge in 1947, and ''Zoo'', published by Peter Scupham's Mandeville Press in 1980 with illustrations by Davi ...

(1914–1992), English poet *

Esme Tombleson Esme Irene Tombleson (née Lawson, 1 August 1917 – 30 July 2010) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. An Australian child prodigy who recited Shakespeare, she had a career in theatre and ballet. During the war, her sharp mind ...

(1917–2010), New Zealand politician *

Esme Melville Esme Melville (born Esme Grace Mount-Melville, 23 July 1918 – 14 September 2006) was an Australian theatre, television and film actress. At the Tropfest awards for 2003 she won Best Actor – Female for her role of Granma in the short film, '' ...

(1918–2006), Australian actress *

Esme Langley Esme Ross-Langley (née George, pseudonym Ann Bruce; 26 August 1919, in Guisborough, Yorkshire – 20 August 1991, in Hertfordshire, England), was a British writer, best known as the founder of the Minorities Research Group and ''Arena Three''. ...

(1919–1991), British writer *Esmée Fairbairn,

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

of British charity the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation *

Esme Irwin Esme Rosemary Irwin (13 June 1931 – 18 August 2001) was an English cricketer who played primarily as a right-arm pace bowler. She appeared in 4 Test matches for England in 1960 and 1961, all against South Africa. She played domestic cricket ...

(1931–2001), British cricket player *

Esmé Emmanuel Esmé Emmanuel Berg (born 14 June 1947) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. Emmanuel was the girls' singles champion at the 1965 French Championships. She won a doubles gold medal at the 1965 Maccabiah Games in Israel. Her ...

(born 1947), South African tennis player *

Esme Young Esme Young (born 1948 or 1949) is an English fashion designer and television presenter. Since 2016, she has been a judge on the BBC reality series ''The Great British Sewing Bee''. Early life and education Young attended the Convent of the Holy ...

(born 1949), English fashion designer * Esme Steyn (born 1953), South African lawn bowler *

Esmé Wiegman Emma Eleonora (Esmé) Wiegman-van Meppelen Scheppink (born 24 July 1975 in Haarlem) is a former Dutch politician. As a member of the ChristianUnion (ChristenUnie) she was an MP from 1 March 2007 to 19 September 2012. She focused on matters of th ...

(born 1975), Dutch politician * Esmé Bianco (born 1982), British actress, model, and performer *

Esmé Kamphuis Esmé Kamphuis (born 22 May 1983 in Zwolle) is a former Dutch heptathlete, who has competed as a bobsledder since 2004. Her best Bobsleigh World Cup finish was second in the two-woman event at Cesana Pariol in the 2010-11 season. She took a bro ...

(born 1983), Dutch bobsledder *

Esmé Patterson Esmé Patterson is an American gold-selling recording artist in the US and Canada, originally from Denver, Colorado, and currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a founding former member of the indie folk band Paper Bird and has releas ...

(born 1985), American musician *

Esmée Denters Esmée Denters (born 28 September 1988) is a Dutch singer and YouTube celebrity. Denters started promoting herself as a musician online in 2006, covering songs by artists including Justin Timberlake and Natasha Bedingfield. By mid-2008 she beca ...

(born 1988), Dutch singer *

Esmé Creed-Miles Esmé Creed-Miles (born 5 February 2000) is an English actress, known for starring as the title character in the Amazon Video series '' Hanna''. Early life Creed-Miles was born in Barnet, England and attended the English boarding school Bedale ...

(born 2000), English actress

Fictional characters

Esme & Roy ''Esme & Roy'' is an animated children's television series created by Dustin Ferrer and Amy Steinberg. The series is produced by Canada-based animation studio Nelvana and ''Sesame Street'' creator Sesame Workshop, in association with Corus Entert ...

's eponymous character *Esmé Howe-Nevinson, a painter in

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

's 1957 novel ''

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

.'' *Esme,

John Shelby John T. Shelby (born February 23, 1958) is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played from 1981 to 1991. He began his career as a member of the Baltimore Orioles before later playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroi ...

's Gypsy wife in the TV series ''

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1910s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to middle-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, racke ...

.'' *Esme Macknade, a regular character in the long-running BBC Radio 4 First World War drama ''Home Front''. *Esme, in William Gaddis' 1955 novel '' The Recognitions.'' *Esmé, in

J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in '' ...

's short story "

For Esmé – with Love and Squalor For or FOR may refer to: English language *For, a preposition *For, a complementizer *For, a grammatical conjunction Science and technology * Fornax, a constellation * for loop, a programming language statement * Frame of reference, in physics ...

". *Esmé Kipps, in Susan Hill's novel ''

The Woman in Black ''The Woman in Black'' is a 1983 gothic horror novel by English writer Susan Hill. The plot concerns a mysterious spectre that haunts a small English town. A television film based on the story, also called '' The Woman in Black'', was produced ...

.'' *Esmé Amarinth, in the novel ''

The Green Carnation ''The Green Carnation'' is a novel by Robert Hichens that was first published anonymously in 1894. A satire on contemporary champions of the Aesthetic Movement, it was withdrawn briefly after the scandal of the Oscar Wilde trial in the follo ...

.'' * Esme Cuckoo, a mutant in the

Marvel Universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of ...

. *

Esme Cullen The following is a list of characters in the ''Twilight'' novel series by Stephenie Meyer, comprising the books ''Twilight'', '' New Moon'', '' Eclipse'' and ''Breaking Dawn'', as well as ''The Twilight Saga'' film series adaptations. Major ...

, a vampire in the ''

Twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this il ...

'' series. *Esme Murray, in the sitcom '' Hamish Macbeth.'' *

Esme Prince '' General Hospital'' is an American television soap opera that was first broadcast on April 1, 1963. The following is a list of characters that first appear in the show during the 2020s, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduc ...

, a character in the soap opera ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

''. *Esme, Mr. Hennessey's serpentine pet in the movie '' Foul Play''; she destroys a roll of film needed as evidence by pushing it into the fireplace. * Esmé Squalor, a villainess in

Lemony Snicket Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American author Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970). Handler has published several children's books under the name, most notably ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which has sold over 60 million copies and s ...

's book series ''

A Series of Unfortunate Events ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' is a series of thirteen children's novels written by American author Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The books follow the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. After their p ...

.'' *

Esme Vanderheusen The following are minor fictional characters on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera ''Passions'' whose connections to the four major families are either weak or non-existent. Norma Bates ''For the character from the Psycho franchise, see Norma Bates (Psyc ...

, in the soap opera '' Passions.'' *

Esme Weatherwax Esmerelda "Esme" Weatherwax (also Granny Weatherwax or Mistress Weatherwax) is a fictional character from Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series. She is a witch and member of the Lancre coven. She is the self-appointed guardian of her small cou ...

, a witch in the '' Discworld'' series. *Esme Watson, in the Australian TV series ''

A Country Practice ''A Country Practice'' is an Australian television soap opera which broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 5 November 1993, airing at 7:30 pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,058 episodes were p ...

.'' *Anna Preston's birth mother in the novel '' When Marnie Was There (''renamed Emily in the Ghibli film)''.'' * Esme Song, in the Canadian teen drama '' Degrassi: Next Class''. *

Esmé Esmé (more commonly Esme) or Esmée, including Esmee is an English first name, from the past participle of the Old French verb '' esmer'', "to esteem", thus signifying "esteemed". Another theory is that ''esmer'' is an alternate spelling of toda ...

, a name given to a murderous

hyena Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the clas ...

of indeterminate gender in a

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), better known by the pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and cultur ...

story. * Esme, a character in CW’s ''Supergirl'' Season 6. *Esme Lennox, the eponymous heroine of

Maggie O'Farrell Maggie O'Farrell, RSL (born 27 May 1972), is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Her acclaimed first novel, ''After You'd Gone'', won the Betty Trask Award, and a later one, '' The Hand That First Held Mine'', the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She has ...

's 2006 novel ''The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.'' *Esme Nicoll, the protagonist of The Dictionary of Lost Words novel by Pip Williams

References

{{given name French unisex given names Unisex given names