Please talk to me about Esther and Edith.

[tiggywinksghost]

Which do you like best and why? If you don't like, would also like to know reasons.

thanks

[Tommy]

I love Esther and was a very strong character in the Old Testament so would be a good role model.

I also love Edith but I had a Hungarian friend called Edith and it was pronounced "E'deet" (like in French) which I think is a more beautiful pronunciation

[cloelia]

My middle name is Esther and i totally loathed it as a child; Both Esther and Edith were family names so i could have landed either; actually now i could take Edith because I like Edie as a nn. On balance I think they tick the boxes of not everywhere yet traditional and easy to spell.

[Vivia]

Esther. I absolutely adore it. Even more than this, I love Hester.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

I heart Edith

Enid is fab, too

[IControlSandwichMonkey]

Both love both. I like the soft sounds of Edith better though.

[sargentpooper]

i love both and often have the same debate in my head! Edith has Edie as a nickname option which is a bonus.

[Clary]

I like both.

I guess Edith I prefer because it is old English as opposed to old Biblical, so more my taste.

I know one small Edith and two small Esthers, ie not many of either, if you are thinking popularity.

However I have heard Edith condemned on MN as "Very now and popular". Not where I live tho.

[wrongun]

They're both members of the WI

I like 'em.

[Scorpette]

Esther is my name so I say go for it! But bear in mind that an incredible amount of people can't spell it properly (you would not believe the spellings I've seen over the years!)

Don't let that put you off, though - it is classic without being 'old lady' and is unusual without being weird or tacky and everyone's heard of it. And it's not girly-girly either. What have you got to lose?!

PS Also like Edith too!

[diddl]

I like both.

Perhaps edging slightly to Edith.

[Anya4]

I think Esther is lovely. Depends what you're wanting though - Edith is much more a name of 2009/10, whereas Esther hasn't seemed to have dated much. Both are lovely. Really like nn Edie

[qumquat]

I love Esther, classy and elegant. Edith is too old lady for my liking, and to be honest I think it's just plain ugly.

[DuelingFANGo]

I like them both. Esther mostly but I love Edith too.

[LittleWhiteWereWolf]

I love Esther. It was Judy Garlands characters name in Meet Me In St Louis. Love it!

[mathanxiety]

Love both. Esther was on the girls top ten names list in NY recently.

[belgo]

Love both the names, in particular Esther. Estelle is lovely too, and Martha.

[RatherBeOnThePiste]

Love both,

Esther less common/ popular - Edith seems to be shortened to Edie, then there do seem to be quite a few of them.

But, love both

[daisyj]

Watching this thread with interest as Esther suddenly occurred to me as a lovely name for second DD (not yet conceived ). Timeless, but unusual as a British girls' name, but not outlandish, and it travels fairly well too.

[branflake81]

Neither. I think they are both ugly. Sorry.

[ellipsis]

I like Esther, and suggested it as a name for dd, but dh, who is a chemist, rejected it for the very geeky reason of it sounding like a group of chemicals called esters. Harrumph.

[Butterflygirl7]

Edith and shortened version Edie sounds beautiful-sorry i can't think of a reason!

[AKMD]

Edith - it reminds me of roses

[KittyBigglesworth]

Don't mind either, like the fact that they are W.I type names! Those that are too pretty-pretty often become sullied over time.
Slow burners like these allow the owner to project their own personality upon them when they're adults. Sligthly prefer Edith due to the Wharton connection.