Esperanza

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

• Spanish:/es.peˈɾãn.sa/●(recorded in a dictionary) from Wiktionary

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

Esperanza is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• Spanish77%

  from Latin spero ‘to hope’; from the root *spe-, ‘hope’.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

  hope, hopefulness

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• English9.5%

  yellow bells (Tecoma stans)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Esperanza, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Araceli
• Beatriz
• Xiomara
• Julieta
• Marisol

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Esperanza is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, United Kingdom, Peru

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Espëränzä, Espèranza

• a separate name2 spellings in the group

  Also written Espéranza

• Lao given name8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, United States, Thailand, Philippines

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written เอสเปรันซ่า, Éspéránzá, Êspërānzā, Èsperanza, ̶e̶s̶p̶e̶r̶a̶n̶z̶a̶

• Estonian given name4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Finland, Peru

  Languages: Estonian, Finnish

  Also written Ësperänzä, Ëspëränzä

58 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Esperanza is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• hope; Ciudad de Mexico, Buenos Aires, Smyrna, Urla, Turkey, Campos, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Brasil

  as a name·Dicionario Sefaradi De SobrenomesDictionary Of Sephardic Surnames Inclusive Cristaos-Novos, Conversos, Marranos, Italianos,…

• In French, Origine espagnole, signifie « espérance ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, Spanish virtue name meaning 'hope'.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Esperanza Baurb. 1920MXMexican actress (1920–1961)
• Esperanza Aguirre Gil de Biedmab. 1952ESSpanish politician and peeress
• Esperanza Spaldingb. 1984USAmerican jazz bassist and singer (born 1984)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

71 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 32 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Esperanza mean, and where does it come from?

from Latin spero ‘to hope’; from the root *spe-, ‘hope’. Recorded by Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios.

What are other forms of the name Esperanza?

In the etymology graph, Espérance and Sperantia are forms of the same name in other languages.

Is Esperanza a male or female name?

Esperanza is a female name. National registers that list it by sex list it as female: Spain (INE), United States (Census Bureau, 2020), Ecuador (INEC, 2024) and Venezuela (asosab), among others.

How do you pronounce Esperanza?

In Spanish /es.peˈɾãn.sa/ (Wiktionary).

Which countries have the most people named Esperanza?

Mondonomo estimates about 219 thousand people named Esperanza in Mexico, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled esperanza. After it come Colombia, Spain, United States and Philippines; the country table on this page ranks them.

How common is the name Esperanza?

In Spain, the national register counted 39,959 people named Esperanza, about 1 in 1.3 thousand residents.

How common is Esperanza compared with other names?

In Mexico, Esperanza is the 135th most common given name of 193,485 given names recorded there.