Esmeralda is the Spanish and Portuguese word for "emerald", the green gemstone, which goes back through Latin to the Greek smaragdos. Victor Hugo gave the name to the Romani dancer in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and Disney's 1996 film introduced her to American children. Esmeralda has been in the US top 1000 throughout this century, peaking at number 191 in 2007 and ranking number 373 in 2025.