Likely a blend of Esme and Mari, conveying meanings like esteemed, beloved, or wished-for child.
Esmari is a name that bloomed in the particular cultural landscape of Afrikaans-speaking South Africa, where it has been used for generations as a melodic feminine given name. It is most readily understood as a fusion of two beloved names: Esme, drawn from the Old French "esmé" meaning esteemed, loved, or held in high regard — itself a form of the Latin "aestimare" — and Mari, the Afrikaans and Germanic form of Mary, rooted in the Hebrew Miriam with its ancient associations with bitterness, strength, or the sea, depending on which etymology one follows. Together they form a name that is at once familiar and invented, carrying the warmth of both roots.
Esther and Marie are among the most enduring names in Dutch Reformed naming tradition, and Afrikaans-speaking families have long shown a gift for elegant compound names — Anneli, Marietjie, Sarlize — that feel both homespun and poetic. Esmari sits firmly in this tradition, widely used in the Western Cape and across the Afrikaner heartland without ever becoming so common as to lose its distinctiveness. It is a name that appears on school registers, in church baptism records, and in the dedications of Afrikaans novels and poetry collections.
D. Salinger's story "For Esmé — with Love and Squalor" and later by the Twilight series. Esmari offers that same soft, literary quality while carrying the added richness of its Southern African provenance.