Esperanza is the Spanish word for "hope", from the Latin sperare, to hope, and it is one of the three virtue names Fe, Esperanza and Caridad. It is the name of the narrator of Sandra Cisneros's novel The House on Mango Street and of jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding. Esperanza ranked number 528 in 2000, hovered close to the top 1000 line through the 2010s and stands at number 1209 in 2025.