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Original poster

Esme pronunciation

136 replies

Buddhabowl · 17/01/2022 13:56

If you don't mind could you tell me how you would pronounce Esme and whereabouts you live? I like Ezmee but DH has only heard Ezmay.
I like both but just want to use a pronunciation that is least likely to be pronounced incorrectly.
I'm in the South East and until recently had only heard Ezmee but I'm getting the impression up north it is always Ezmay.
If it's too contentious I think we might go with Daphne instead!

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Glitterygreen · 17/01/2022 17:05

I haven't ever heard Esmee, only ever Esmay, and I'm in the SE.

I think the name grew in popularity a few years ago due to the Twilight films and it was Esmay in that.

I think if you want it to be pronounced Esmee straight off the bat you may have to spell it that way.

Minniem2020 · 17/01/2022 17:04

Ezmee, I'm north east

madisonbridges · 17/01/2022 16:58

Ezmay. Next doors cats called it. But we're in the north so could be behind the times.
I do know someone called Estee which they pronounce as S.T. as opposed to estay.

Kshhuxnxk · 17/01/2022 16:56

Scotland - Ehz-may

YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators · 17/01/2022 16:56

Do you like Thisbe, if you like the two syllables with an ee ending?
I love it.

cheapskatemum · 17/01/2022 16:55

I used to work with a woman called Esme, in Marlow, south Buckinghamshire. This was in the late 70s & early 80s. Everyone pronounced her name Ezmee.

ShaneTheThird · 17/01/2022 16:55

Ezmay. London but live north west now and it's still ezmay here. Can't imagine it said as esmee

Pinkginlover · 17/01/2022 16:52

Ezmay. In Scotland

JassyRadlett · 17/01/2022 16:52

Ah, the day she thought she was psychic on the horse racing but it was her hearing aids picking up the radio.

I started rewatching it in one of the lockdowns as a therapeutic escape from Things and it is EXACTLY as I remember it.

steppemum · 17/01/2022 16:44

Sw England

probably Ezmay.

But I've heard it pronounced ezmee too and I would go with what they told me their name was.

MrsSteveMcDonald · 17/01/2022 16:41

Only ever heard it Ezmay here in the SW

MeredithGreyishblue · 17/01/2022 16:37

@Shmippy

I just googled Esme Watson and I was whooshed back in time! Had forgotten all about A Country Practice. That was not the most exciting soap there has ever been Grin
Ah, the day she thought she was psychic on the horse racing but it was her hearing aids picking up the radio.
Evanesco · 17/01/2022 16:35

I'm up north and the one I went to school with in the mid noughties onward was pronounced "ezmee". It then became quite popular for people I went to school with to use it for their daughter in about 2015-2016 and again was pronounced "ezmee" in all but one case where they spelt it "ezmae" in order to get people to pronounce it differently

Apart from the one person who changed the spelling, I had never heard it pronounced another way until people were spelling it out phonetically on MN

Shmippy · 17/01/2022 16:30

I just googled Esme Watson and I was whooshed back in time! Had forgotten all about A Country Practice. That was not the most exciting soap there has ever been Grin

JassyRadlett · 17/01/2022 16:26

Australian in London for the last 16 years, I’ve never heard Esmee in real life, so it sounds very odd to my ears.

But I think most Australians of my age would have the redoubtable Esme Watson (pronounced Esmay) as their main cultural association.

Blubells · 17/01/2022 16:01

I go back and forth - neither sound like 'the right' one

Neither Esmee or Esmay are the correct (French) pronunciation of Esmé.

Joolsin · 17/01/2022 15:51

The ones I've ever met were all called Ezmee. All elderly ladies. Ireland.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 17/01/2022 15:47

Ez mee

ApplePippa · 17/01/2022 15:45

I know three Esmes.

93 year old - Ez mee
Friend in her 40s - Ez mee
14 year old - Ez may

All in the South East. I just assumed it was one of those names that could be pronounced either way, rather than one being right and the other wrong.

housemaus · 17/01/2022 15:45

I go back and forth - neither sound like 'the right' one, but they both feel like I should be saying it the other way...

I think it's because I know someone whose daughter is an Esmé (with the accent) but she pronounces it day-to-day or in general conversation as 'ezmy', which kind of fits with our accent. But then if she's e.g. filming herself talking, or like... making a point/showing off a bit (she does a lot of Instagram videos of her with all her daughter's many clothes as she's a child model), she pronounces the accent.*

So it feels like both to me...

Not helpful, I know!

*Not a judgement per se. But explaining that when she's kind of being more deliberate about how she presents herself/her daughter, the accent comes in!

LaBelleSausage · 17/01/2022 15:42

I'm in the north wear and my son is at nursery with an Ez-may and an Ez-me

Both spelled the same way.

Ez-me moved up from Essex though

TH22 · 17/01/2022 15:39

South east, Ezmay

CatRamsey · 17/01/2022 15:38

I'd always say Ez-mee unless it had an accent on it. I'm in South Wales.

Friolero · 17/01/2022 15:38

I'd say Ezmay. I'm in the South East.

peachgreen · 17/01/2022 15:37

I've never heard Ezmee, how interesting!

I would say Ezmay, and I'm originally from London and now in NI.