From Arabic 'Asma' meaning 'supreme' or 'exalted,' or a short form of Esmeralda (emerald).
Esma has two distinct and equally compelling origins that have converged into a single name across different cultures. In the Arabic and broader Islamic world, it derives from 'Asma,' meaning 'loftier,' 'more elevated,' or 'of higher status,' from the root 'samaa' (to be elevated, to ascend). Asma bint Abi Bakr was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and a woman celebrated for her courage — she is often called 'Dhat al-Nitaqayn,' the woman of the two belts, for her resourcefulness during the early Muslim community's most perilous days.
This lineage gives Esma deep respect across Muslim-majority cultures. In the Ottoman Empire, the name flourished with particular brilliance. Esma Sultan (1778–1848), daughter of Sultan Abdülhamid I, was one of the most wealthy and independent Ottoman princesses of her era, known for her lavish waterfront palace on the Bosphorus, her patronage of arts, and her surprising degree of personal agency in a restricted world.
Her fame helped cement Esma as a name associated with refinement and quiet power throughout the Turkish cultural sphere. In the Balkans — Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia — Esma has been a beloved name for generations, reflecting the deep Ottoman cultural inheritance of those regions. It is also sometimes treated as a short form of Esmeralda, drawing on an entirely different Romance tradition (from Spanish 'esmeralda,' emerald). Today, Esma is experiencing gentle growth in Western Europe and North America, carried there by diaspora communities and discovered by parents seeking a name that is short, melodious, genuinely multicultural, and easy to pronounce across language families.