Esra is the Turkish form of the Arabic name Isra, which means "night journey" and recalls the Prophet Muhammad's miraculous journey from Mecca to Jerusalem described in the Quran. It is one of the most popular girls' names in Turkey and is also the German and Scandinavian spelling of the biblical Ezra. In the United States Esra had fewer than five births in 2000, has climbed steadily since the mid-2010s and reached number 2662 in 2025, its best rank yet, with 65 girls.