DH hates the name I want - Esme

i love esme!its lovely!i like 1 and 2 on your list.not as keen on 3 but still nice.

My DD is Esmé . We pronounce it Esmay - that's why it has the acute accent on the final e - as in café .

It is an old french name meaning beloved and if you're being strict Esmé is the male version and Esmeé the female . There is a literary charity called the Esmeé Fairbairn Foundation .

We debated long and hard and finally decided to use the acute on our DD's name in the hope that it would help people to pronounce her name Esmay instead of Esmeee. But since my own knowledge of french is pretty limited we were probably being a bit hopeful

At the end of the day it's not really a big deal .

I also really like Sylvie - but DH wouldn't use that one 'cos he once knew a dog with that name .

Then again, just because it doesn't conform to modern "rules" of the language doesn't mean it does not originate from that language. My maiden surname came from Gaelic but the spelling has changed.

I've done a quick Google poll of baby name sites and most of them have it as French. One had it Greek, another British and another Latin.

I still wouldn't give it to a child, though.

Tell hubby Elspeth a hel of a lot more pretentious than Esme!

Emse gorgeous!

I thought that Esme with an acute accent (not sure where they are on the keyboard) is the old French version for boys, and Esmee with an acute accent the old French for girls. And in Victorian times Esme (acute accent) was unisex - so Saki's hyena, which someone mentioned earlier down the thread - was called Esme because they didn't know its sex. (the hyena which ate the toddler, that was a memorable story)

There was a male French writer called Esme (acute accent) something or other, I believe.

Actually, it is not French. IF it were French or if it had come from French it would be Esmée.
It is a feminine pet form of the name Edmund, first popularised in Scotland!

Just because it sounds French doesn't mean it is. It's a very common misconception though.

ElizabethBeresford, it can't be faux-francais. It is francais!.

it is a real name - a great aut of mine was named this.

i hav an Emma. a plain unpretentious name IMO, I call her Esme

Lydia - Lydie
Miriam
Lucia - Lucy

I think Sylvia is lovely. Esme is a beautiful name but very popular around here (saying that I have an Ava which was last years Amelia!)

I know an Esme my age and she is Ezmee, so EzMAY sounds a bit flouncy and faux-francais to me......jmo.

I'm not keen on Esme personally, although I'm not sure why as if dd had been the ds we were expecting he would have been Ezzie (Ezra) and peopele did ask us if that was short for Esme. Maybe I just think of it as a boy sounding name. Not sure. I wouldn't go for Elspeth either, it just doesn't run easily off my tongue, especially with Anna afterwards. I think I'd choose something softer sounding, but of course how the whole name sounds depends on your surname in any case. However that's all a bit irrelevant anyway. I think you have to scrap any names that either of you don't like, and to be honest the reasons why you don't like it don't really matter. My parents did a very complicated shortlisting process for us, using a babyname book ending up with a list they both liked. That way they only discussed names that were good for both of them. Also having a longer list to choose from makes it less of a competition about who gets to choose IYSWIM.

Hooray Ali, that is the correct way.

And thank you Elizabeth B, my Esme Bluebell IS indeed gorgeous!!!

btw we will be pronouncing it Ez-mee

I love Esme and it's what we are calling our baby girl when she arrives. It is a proper name and I obviously don't think it's pretentious. Dp wasn't convinced when I suggested it for ds (just aswell he was a boy!) but 'came round' this time, although he never said he hated it, he just wanted another name which fortunately we can't have now. I'm not sure you could convince your dh if he hates the name. From the others I prefer Sylvie and I don't mind Elsie/Elsa.

Well, you have a lovely shortlist so one way or another your daughter will get a fab name.

I would only go for Esme if you and your husband are both good-looking and likely to have a very pretty child. As Cali says, it's not a name that sits well on the brick shit-house type of woman.

I'm guessing you're not a Terry Pratchett fan then? I, too, think of Esme Weatherwax (aka Granny Weatherwax, very formidable witch who can inhabit the minds of other creatures) when I see that name.

I also would definitely pronounce it Ez-may. I just wouldn't give it to a child, and neither should you, imho, if your dh really doesn't like it. When approaching the choice of name for our dd, my dh and I agreed to each draw up a list of possibles. Each of us had absolute right to veto any name on the other's list.

Esme Bluebell is GORGEOUS

Any of you that think Esme is unusual are wrong - I know of 4 young girls with the name.

Agree with those that think it doesn't work with Anna.

Esther is lovely.

I used to know a Hester too and she was so lovely that I still have a bit of a soft spot for the name.

The more I think of Esme, the more I like it.

I really like all of those names, apart from Mary.

My partner wasn't over-keen on my choice of Tabitha but he kind of slackened off a bit on the objections after he'd seen me give birth and that is what my daughter is called. So you could always hang on a bit and hope he comes round?

I'm afraid it makes me think of Esme (Granny) Weatherwax, the scarey witch in the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels.

I like Elspeth, maybe just cos one of he nicest people I know is called Elspeth. If you like 'E' names, what about Esther?

Mojo, my evil sister always pronounces it Esmay cos she knows I don't like it pronounced that way.

Mine is Esme Bluebell...

that's how my DD's is pronouced, but she gets a few Esmays

ps it's pronounced es-meee