Esperanza
The Spanish name meaning hope or expectation.
Name Census estimates that about 15,431 living Americans carry the first name Esperanza. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Esperanza today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Esperanza births was 2000 (499 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Esperanza. 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 Esperanza with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 22,212 Americans
Peak year
2000
499 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2002 SSA rank
#1,017
Tracked since 1903
Census
Esperanza in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 36,013 people with the first name Esperanza, which placed it at #1,128 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
#1,128
National first-name rank
People counted
36K
36,013 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
94.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Esperanza
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Esperanza is Hispanic at 94.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (3.4%) and White (1.4%). 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 Esperanza 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 Esperanza at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino94.0% · 33,856
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 1,240
- White1.4% · 517
- Black or African American0.5% · 190
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 115
- Two or more races0.3% · 95
Gender
Gender distribution for Esperanza
Out of the 20,689 babies given the name Esperanza since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Esperanza as a male name
- Ranked #11,234 in 2002
- 5 male births in 2002
- Peak: 1923 (5 births)
Esperanza as a female name
- Ranked #1,017 in 2024
- 249 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (499 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Esperanza appears almost entirely female. Of the 36,013 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Esperanza: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Esperanza from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,819 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Esperanza remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Esperanza 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 Esperanza during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Esperanzas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, California, Arizona recorded the most babies named Esperanza, while Massachusetts, Louisiana, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 517 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Esperanza
The given name Esperanza is of Spanish origin, derived from the word "esperanza" which means "hope" in the Spanish language. The name has its roots in Latin, stemming from the word "sperare" meaning "to hope."
Esperanza became a popular name during the medieval period in Spain, particularly among Catholic families, as it symbolized the virtue of hope and faith in Christian teachings. The name gained further prominence during the era of Spanish colonization in the Americas, as it was bestowed upon many children born in the colonies.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Esperanza can be found in the 13th-century Spanish epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," where a character named Esperanza appears. Additionally, the name is mentioned in various religious texts and writings from the medieval and renaissance periods in Spain.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Esperanza. One of the most famous was Esperanza Aguirre (born 1952), a Spanish politician who served as the President of the Community of Madrid from 2003 to 2012. Another notable figure was Esperanza Spalding (born 1984), an American jazz bassist and singer who won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2011.
Other individuals with the name Esperanza include Esperanza Gordillo (1945-2019), a Mexican labor leader and former head of the national teachers' union, and Esperanza Venegas (born 1970), a Mexican singer-songwriter known for her contributions to Latin alternative rock.
In literature, one of the most renowned characters named Esperanza is found in Sandra Cisneros' novel "The House on Mango Street," published in 1984. The book's protagonist, a young Latina girl named Esperanza, navigates the challenges of growing up in a Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago.
People
Esperanza + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Esperanza 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
Esperanza: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Esperanza?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,431 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Esperanza 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 22,212 US residents.
Is Esperanza a common name?
We classify Esperanza as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,689 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Esperanza most popular?
The single biggest year for Esperanza was 2000, when 499 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Esperanza is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Esperanza in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 36,013 people with the name Esperanza, or 11.92 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,128 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 Esperanza 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 Esperanza?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Esperanza appears almost entirely female. Of the 36,013 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Esperanza?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Esperanza is Hispanic at 94.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (3.4%) and White (1.4%). 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 Esperanza most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Esperanza in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.0% (33,856 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 Esperanza in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Esperanza a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Esperanza 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 Esperanza still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Esperanza 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 Esperanza 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 the name Esperanza?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Esperanza, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.