Esau
Esau was given to 37 boys in 2025, #3,204 among boys’ names; 2,976 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,270 Americans named Esau and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (76% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 15 and 39.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Esau by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Esau mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Esau is “a male given name from Hebrew.”
From Ancient Greek Ἡσαῦ (Hēsaû), from Biblical Hebrew עֵשָׂו (ʿēśāw).
/ˈisɔ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Esau?
#3,204 among boys’ names, 2025
Esau fell from #2,986 in 2015 to #3,204 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 20.3 to 21.7 per million.
82 babies in 2007, the peak
Esau peaked in 2007, when 82 boys were given it, #1,785 among boys’ names. The 37 births of 2025 are 45% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 37 | #3,204 | 21.7 |
| 2024 | 40 | #3,064 | 23.2 |
| 2023 | 33 | #3,494 | 19.3 |
| 2022 | 44 | #2,885 | 25.2 |
| 2021 | 35 | #3,318 | 20.0 |
| 2020 | 38 | #3,034 | 22.0 |
| 2019 | 33 | #3,439 | 18.4 |
| 2018 | 37 | #3,120 | 20.4 |
| 2017 | 25 | #4,142 | 13.5 |
| 2016 | 48 | #2,595 | 25.3 |
Every recorded year (127)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 39 | #2,986 | 20.3 |
| 2014 | 41 | #2,855 | 21.3 |
| 2013 | 35 | #3,144 | 18.5 |
| 2012 | 47 | #2,607 | 24.8 |
| 2011 | 47 | #2,596 | 24.7 |
| 2010 | 57 | #2,270 | 29.7 |
| 2009 | 59 | #2,235 | 29.7 |
| 2008 | 72 | #1,971 | 35.3 |
| 2007 | 82 | #1,785 | 39.5 |
| 2006 | 73 | #1,863 | 35.5 |
| 2005 | 63 | #1,988 | 31.5 |
| 2004 | 63 | #1,936 | 31.7 |
| 2003 | 55 | #2,058 | 27.8 |
| 2002 | 46 | #2,261 | 23.7 |
| 2001 | 58 | #1,893 | 29.9 |
| 2000 | 73 | #1,612 | 37.2 |
| 1999 | 38 | #2,363 | 19.8 |
| 1998 | 39 | #2,285 | 20.4 |
| 1997 | 39 | #2,205 | 20.7 |
| 1996 | 40 | #2,115 | 21.1 |
| 1995 | 31 | #2,459 | 16.3 |
| 1994 | 25 | #2,874 | 12.9 |
| 1993 | 40 | #2,016 | 20.4 |
| 1992 | 37 | #2,098 | 18.5 |
| 1991 | 35 | #2,102 | 17.3 |
| 1990 | 44 | #1,782 | 21.4 |
| 1989 | 39 | #1,900 | 19.5 |
| 1988 | 31 | #2,048 | 16.2 |
| 1987 | 22 | #2,493 | 11.8 |
| 1986 | 20 | #2,623 | 10.9 |
| 1985 | 22 | #2,375 | 11.9 |
| 1984 | 12 | #3,526 | 6.6 |
| 1983 | 19 | #2,515 | 10.6 |
| 1982 | 25 | #2,131 | 13.8 |
| 1981 | 28 | #1,960 | 15.6 |
| 1980 | 27 | #2,020 | 15.1 |
| 1979 | 24 | #2,120 | 13.9 |
| 1978 | 17 | #2,596 | 10.4 |
| 1977 | 17 | #2,589 | 10.3 |
| 1976 | 14 | #2,864 | 8.9 |
| 1975 | 15 | #2,671 | 9.6 |
| 1974 | 13 | #2,854 | 8.3 |
| 1973 | 18 | #2,252 | 11.5 |
| 1972 | 10 | #3,220 | 6.2 |
| 1971 | 8 | #3,753 | 4.5 |
| 1970 | 13 | #2,660 | 7.0 |
| 1969 | 10 | #2,928 | 5.6 |
| 1968 | 8 | #3,191 | 4.6 |
| 1967 | 12 | #2,395 | 6.9 |
| 1966 | 15 | #2,073 | 8.4 |
| 1965 | 12 | #2,397 | 6.5 |
| 1964 | 13 | #2,346 | 6.5 |
| 1963 | 11 | #2,582 | 5.4 |
| 1962 | 11 | #2,560 | 5.3 |
| 1961 | 12 | #2,456 | 5.6 |
| 1960 | 10 | #2,742 | 4.7 |
| 1959 | 13 | #2,332 | 6.1 |
| 1958 | 13 | #2,294 | 6.1 |
| 1957 | 22 | #1,725 | 10.2 |
| 1956 | 15 | #2,117 | 7.1 |
| 1955 | 13 | #2,247 | 6.3 |
| 1954 | 14 | #2,144 | 6.9 |
| 1953 | 15 | #2,062 | 7.6 |
| 1952 | 10 | #2,574 | 5.1 |
| 1951 | 19 | #1,744 | 10.1 |
| 1950 | 21 | #1,625 | 11.7 |
| 1949 | 19 | #1,720 | 10.7 |
| 1948 | 16 | #1,899 | 9.1 |
| 1947 | 18 | #1,805 | 9.8 |
| 1946 | 16 | #1,838 | 9.9 |
| 1945 | 14 | #1,875 | 10.4 |
| 1944 | 15 | #1,836 | 11.0 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,316 | 7.7 |
| 1942 | 19 | #1,646 | 13.8 |
| 1941 | 18 | #1,653 | 14.7 |
| 1940 | 14 | #1,931 | 12.1 |
| 1939 | 22 | #1,429 | 19.9 |
| 1938 | 13 | #2,013 | 11.7 |
| 1937 | 14 | #1,934 | 13.1 |
| 1936 | 14 | #1,907 | 13.5 |
| 1935 | 18 | #1,677 | 17.3 |
| 1934 | 22 | #1,472 | 21.3 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,130 | 12.1 |
| 1932 | 19 | #1,671 | 18.2 |
| 1931 | 5 | #3,950 | 4.8 |
| 1930 | 11 | #2,496 | 10.0 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,069 | 7.4 |
| 1928 | 18 | #1,854 | 16.3 |
| 1927 | 7 | #3,567 | 6.2 |
| 1926 | 19 | #1,812 | 17.1 |
| 1925 | 22 | #1,650 | 19.7 |
| 1924 | 11 | #2,706 | 9.7 |
| 1923 | 18 | #1,893 | 16.4 |
| 1922 | 20 | #1,783 | 18.4 |
| 1921 | 16 | #2,089 | 14.5 |
| 1920 | 17 | #1,983 | 16.0 |
| 1919 | 14 | #2,183 | 14.3 |
| 1918 | 17 | #1,931 | 16.8 |
| 1917 | 19 | #1,715 | 20.5 |
| 1916 | 24 | #1,427 | 27.0 |
| 1915 | 13 | #2,096 | 15.3 |
| 1914 | 14 | #1,709 | 21.4 |
| 1913 | 13 | #1,522 | 25.4 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,111 | 16.3 |
| 1911 | 6 | #1,596 | 26.6 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,189 | 42.7 |
| 1908 | 6 | #1,268 | 38.9 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,131 | 47.7 |
| 1902 | 7 | #963 | 57.1 |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,080 | 46.5 |
| 1897 | 6 | #982 | 53.2 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,149 | 41.8 |
| 1894 | 6 | #993 | 51.8 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,092 | 44.5 |
| 1890 | 6 | #926 | 54.0 |
| 1884 | 5 | #1,018 | 43.7 |
| 1880 | 5 | #957 | 45.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Esau a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Esau has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 127 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Esau: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Esau, and how old are they?
2,270 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 76% of the 2,976 Americans ever recorded as Esau. The median Esau alive today is 24 years old; half are between 15 and 39.
The 2020 Census counted 3,018 people named Esau (13 women and girls, 3,005 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,142 born in the U.S. The Census count is 41% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 54 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 182 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 207 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 447 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 896 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 481 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Esau born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 9 | #1,797 | 1.4× |
Where Esau is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Esau is most over-represented in South Carolina: since 1910 it was given 2.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Esau with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 9,069 babies since 1880, Esau is the most given (33% of them). In 2025 it was given to 37 of their 393 babies (9.4%), the fifth most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Esau
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Esau and names like it
- Compare Esau and EsaiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sEsau peaked in 2007.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Esau since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Esau: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2007The year the most babies were named Esau.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Esau alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with EMost given first.