Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Esmé or Isabella?

61 replies

pinkrainbowsocks · 04/05/2022 22:54

Which do you prefer? Esmé pronounced ez-may

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Daisybuttercup12345 · 30/07/2024 21:27

Esmae.

izzydrizzy04 · 21/07/2024 02:04

KirstenBlest · 20/07/2024 22:09

This one

never seen that in my life. what device are you on?

KirstenBlest · 20/07/2024 22:09

This one

Esmé or Isabella?
izzydrizzy04 · 20/07/2024 20:43

KirstenBlest · 20/07/2024 13:50

@izzydrizzy04 , did you miss the bright red note telling you it was an old thread? Same goes for the other thread you did it to.

i'm confused, what red note

KirstenBlest · 20/07/2024 13:50

@izzydrizzy04 , did you miss the bright red note telling you it was an old thread? Same goes for the other thread you did it to.

Firsttimebabymummy · 20/07/2024 07:56

Esme

izzydrizzy04 · 20/07/2024 00:43

whoops, old thread

izzydrizzy04 · 20/07/2024 00:42

my name's isabelle, so i'm biased, but i prefer isabella.

Magenta82 · 10/05/2022 13:37

I'm a massive Terry Pratchett fan and picked Esme after one of his characters and because I think it is pretty. It was only after shewas registered that I realised that when I told people she was named after a character in a book people thought I was taking about Twilight!

Isabella and Esme are both characters in the Twilight series.

MsTSwift · 07/05/2022 15:36

The Isabel names are now so over used any appeal is gone.

sunflowerdaisyrose · 07/05/2022 15:35

Really love Isabella (and Isobel). Don't mind Es-me but dislike Es-may.

6ft2inacompact · 07/05/2022 12:29

I love Esme. Always adored Isabella and Isabelle but agree that it’s just so so popular now that it feels a bit bland.

Peppapigforlife · 07/05/2022 12:24

PuppyMonkey · 07/05/2022 11:43

Esme pronounced Ez-me, from the Scottish tradition not the made up French version.

It was actually imported to Scotland from France, from the Old French word for Esteemed.

Peppapigforlife · 07/05/2022 12:17

I've just had a look at the top 1000 USA girls' names. Isabella is number 7 and Esmé is 379 right next to Leighton and Raelyn!

Peppapigforlife · 07/05/2022 12:07

@jeanne16 I always wonder that too. When I named my little Esmé in America I had never heard of anyone being called that name. I just saw it on a list of E names and liked it a lot. Then I came to the UK and there were toddler Esme's everywhere!

IglesiasPiggl · 07/05/2022 11:53

Esme gets my vote. Isabella is fussy and overused in my opinion. Esme is getting popular as well though, so you could go with Maeve for something similar but less prevalent.

BigCheeseSandwich · 07/05/2022 11:46

They’re both so popular they’re boringly unimaginative now - there is one Esme and two Isabella’s in DD8’s class.

PuppyMonkey · 07/05/2022 11:43

Esme pronounced Ez-me, from the Scottish tradition not the made up French version.

jeanne16 · 07/05/2022 11:40

Loads of little Esmes atm, in case that bothers you. I always wonder how a name suddenly takes off in popularity. I think it has replaced Ella.

Peppapigforlife · 07/05/2022 11:38

@pinklavenders it's not three syllables, the h is to soften the way the y sounds so it doesn't sound like may. It's just me trying to type how it sounds.

pinklavenders · 06/05/2022 21:57

I pronounce it Esmehy.

Really? Why 3 syllables and why ending in y?

doggiescats · 06/05/2022 21:29

Magenta82 · 05/05/2022 00:44

My daughter is Esme, I get a little annoyed when people pronounce it Ez-may rather than Ez-me, especially after I just said Ez-me! The accent is the difference in pronunciation but a lot of people don't realise that and would pronounce it Ez-me.

So would I have to go with Isabella.

I could have written this post word for word!

Peppapigforlife · 06/05/2022 21:27

Have to add, my favourite pronunciation of it so far has been from a little girl in America where DD was born, who couldn't grasp her name (it's not a common name there) and referred to her every day as Ezmo. The funniest part was that her mum kept trying to correct her yet the mum was also saying my name wrong. So we became this little duo of POPPAPOG and Ezmo.

Moodycow78 · 06/05/2022 21:26

Esmé it's my favourite and definitely what I was going to name my daughter but 2 boys later......

DarkCorner · 06/05/2022 21:24

Esme (any pronunciation) is my preferred option. It’s lovely. Isabella is pretty but I know so many (plus variations on Isabel).