Esma
Most Poles have never met an Esma: it stays rare, with only a small handful of girls given the name each of the last few years. It comes from Turkish, meaning "supreme, exalted", and in Poland it goes to girls alone.
Esma Pronunciation
Esma is pronounced ES-mah (/ˈɛsma/).
What Esma means
Where Esma comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Esma belongs to Turkish naming, and it carries the sense of supreme, exalted. The origin sits outside the Slavic and Latin families that fill most Polish registers. In Ottoman history the name marks royalty. Esma Sultan was the title held by several Ottoman princesses, among them a daughter of Sultan Ahmed III born in 1726.
The reading of Esma as protection and security came later. That sense of shelter attached itself to a name whose older weight was elevation, the high and the exalted. Both meanings now travel together.
In a Polish class register Esma stands out beside the Zofias and Antoninas. It arrives with no inherited diminutive, no Polish variant worn smooth by use. A child named Esma keeps the whole name.
The name stays short. Two syllables, four letters, and the meaning of exalted underneath.
How many people are named Esma
1 in 234832 women in Poland is named Esma. 96 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #3537 among female names.
Esma's popularity over time
2 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1556 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2022.
Esma as a middle name
Esma is a first name for 96 women in Poland and a middle name for another 14, an 87/13 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1984th, between Eniola (14) and Evie (14).
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#1982 Elfrida14
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#1983 Eniola14
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#1984 Esma14
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#1985 Evie14
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#1986 France14