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 [ syll. e-sme-ral-da, es-mera-lda ] The girl name Esmeralda is pronounced EHSM-RAALDah KEY. Esmeralda is of Spanish origin, and it is used mainly in English, German, Italian, and Spanish. From esmeralda which means 'emerald' ; smaragdus which means 'green stone'. The first name is derived from the Spanish name of the gemstone, which is itself from the Latin smaragdus ('green stone'). Esmeralda is the nickname of the gypsy girl and love interest of the hunchbacked Quasimodo in Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831); in the novel, her nickname originated from her wearing an emerald amulet. Variants of Esmeralda include Esmaralda (English), Esmee (Dutch), Esmerelda (English), and Smeralda (Italian). The short form Esme (English), and the pet forms Emerald (English), Ezzie (English), Lala (Czech), and Lolly (English) are other variants of the name. Esmeralda is popular as a baby name for girls. The name's popularity grew from the 1950s up to the 1990s. At the modest peak of its usage in 1998, 0.128% of baby girls were named Esmeralda. It ranked at #134 then. The baby name has since experienced a drop in popularity. In 2008, it ranked at #254 with a usage of 0.065%, but it was nevertheless the most popular out of all girl names in its group. Baby names that sound like Esmeralda include Esmaralda (English) and Esmerelda (English). KEY: approx pronunciation for Esmeralda: EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; M as in "me (M.IY)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; AA as in "odd (AA.D)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
