Your baby's name is 'so weird' ...?

[brandnewcoffee]

Due with our baby girl in just a few weeks. It took us a long time to pick a name that will flow nicely with the middle name as well as the surname and a name we both love equally. My nan texted me this morning and ask if we've picked a name yet so I told her that we have and told her the name we chose is Esmé. Her response was simply 'such a weird name'. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm gobsmacked and don't know what to say back. I know it doesn't matter what others think about the name we chose for our baby girl but it really got me doubting myself and now I'm sat here worrying whether we picked the right name. AIBU?

This made me laugh - we have an Esme!
Not weird at all in fact v popular now !

But my DH's nan, when DS was born couldn't believe the name we had chosen (Euan) '... weird !
Why not a proper name like John!'

Nans will always be like that!!

@ofwarren

Nothing wrong with it, perfectly normal lovely name. My youngest is a Christopher and my mum gave me a funny look when I told her. She didn't call him by his name for ages. She's totally fine with it now.

Christopher????

Your Mum objected to Christopher?

@brandnewcoffee My LG is 9 days old and she's called Esmè (pronounced Esmae). It's a beautiful name and all that matters is that you love it, doesn't matter what anyone else thinks!

If I were in your position, I'd text back "good thing I wasn't asking your opinion!" but I'm just passive aggressive 😂

@ofwarren @VickyEadieofThigh

It’s funny because I know dozens of Christopher’s my age, but I feel like it’s a fairly unusual choice for a baby these days. If someone I know were to name a baby Christopher now I’d find that more unusual than if it was called Xander or Shay or Lachlan even though they more unusual names to me, they just feel more usual for modern baby names. Does that make sense?
I think it’s a lot to do with age as well. Names are cyclical so names like Sharon or Steven or Tracey are due a revival soon and to my 80s born brain those are not baby names! Those are your aunties names lol

Esme is beautiful, OP. Nevermind her comment.

SIL casually mentioned a few months ago that she thought our kids’ names—traditional and normal, just not in the top 100, and in a similar vein to Esme—are naff and pretentious. I was so annoyed, because who actually voices that kind of mean and pointless negativity?? They’re very normal, recognizable names used across a broad spectrum of society, nothing out there or blatantly MC-trying-to-sound-UC. Anyway, I have made peace with it by remembering to consider the source. SIL’s kids’ names are the absolute definition of vanilla (I know about 4 sibling sets who have the same names as her son and daughter, nevermind the scores I knew growing up who had to always use their last initial in class to distinguish themselves from the other 5 children in the class of the same name). She generally lacks imagination, so of course she would be wary of anything out of the traditional top 5. 🤷‍♀️

@brandnewcoffee WOW, why do people think it's OK to be so rude?

When I became pregnant (25+ years ago,) I actually had a couple of extended family members (a generation or more older than me,) laughing, and saying 'I can't wait to see YOU with a baby. You won't know which end the nappy goes on!'

I was nearly 30, married, in a professional career, and had my own home (with DH,) but apparently I wouldn't know which end of the baby the nappy went on. A few similar comments ensued before my baby was born!

Hilariously, the people saying this had (teen and young adult) children who were rogues, thugs, and generally pretty unpleasant people, so THEIR parenting skills were questionable.

Obviously projecting, and just being a cunt.

FTR, Esme is a cute name, so ignore your nan.

A good friend of mine had similar reactions when she named her son Milo. Her MIL made a joke about it and a big family bust up ensued. People need to learn to keep their unwanted opinions to themselves.

1. It’s a beautiful name.
2. Your Nan is incredibly rude.

Honestly, I was terribly disappointed at how normal the name was! It’s beautiful and I’m sorry that your Nan rained on your parade. Quite rude!

I am due in 8 days and this thread has given me some lovely girls names to think of. We already have a boys name.

Esme is a lovely name and I'm now considering it if baby is a girl.

My mum actually named my dd as we couldn't think of a name and she suggested her name, both me and dh liked it so that's what's she's called. Now however even if she said a name I had picked I wouldn't call baby it as then she would be thinking she named both our children lol.

Since she is known for her rudeness, I’d text back:

Rude

Or

Goodness me, how rude!

Can't believe a Pp said: She’ll not meet another child with that name though that’s for sure!

really?

I know 3 Esme's under 10.
It's a lovely name and not at ALL weird.

Your Nan is just a cow.

Do people not have the ability to see names through a fresh lens though!

That's quite a good question and I guess yes but it takes time. When I had my children a couple of names mentioned I immediately discounted because they were names of people I disliked, or because every child I knew with that name happened to be a badly behaved child. So I probably would get past the name once baby had arrived but until then the name would still very much be associated with other people.

When I suggested esme dh insisted I had made it up as he had never heard of it! Dd has a friend called it so proves to him I hadn’t 😁

It's a lovely name but to anyone over 60ish who isn't immersed in modern naming trends it is a bit weird.

So to you it's just a lovely name, but to someone forty years older than you it's the equivalent of say, Chevrolet.

I'd cut Nan some slack, and keep names under wraps until they have a delightful baby to attach them to.

@MorrisZapp hem, hem. I'm 61 and Esme has been around for at least 10 years although it's popularity has grown. Perhaps because I had dc late, I stayed plugged in for longer.

I have a littke Bernadette. The reactions are everything from "what a beautiful name" (usually older people) to "why would you call her that?" (From people my age. I'm 29)
I dont care. I love her name. And she loves her name too.

I remember being on holiday with my parents when I was about 14/15 and the woman in the next room had a daughter called phoebe. My first response was "as in friends?"

She wasn't amused.

Love the name. So pretty. This is exactly the reason why myself and DH didn't tell anyone our choices until the baby arrived.

Esme is a Peaky Blinders character and that started eight years ago. That’s probably helped its popularity.

It's a lovely name but to anyone over 60ish who isn't immersed in modern naming trends it is a bit weird.

I can't imagine why anyone over 60 would find it weird, it's an old name that's made a come back, bit like Ruby and Arthur. I would have the 'over 60s' would have like it.

Perhaps OPs nan has just never heard it before and, being rude generally, made a nasty comment about it.

@pigsDOfly

It's a lovely name but to anyone over 60ish who isn't immersed in modern naming trends it is a bit weird.

I can't imagine why anyone over 60 would find it weird, it's an old name that's made a come back, bit like Ruby and Arthur. I would have the 'over 60s' would have like it.

Perhaps OPs nan has just never heard it before and, being rude generally, made a nasty comment about it.

Sorry, I'm in Scotland. It's not an older traditional name here. Ten times as many Esme's have been born since 2005 than in the period 1900 to 1960.

We don't have many Alfie's, Ada's, Ivy's etc and even Ruby isn't that common up until about 2000.

And Jack didn't exist much at all but let's not open that can of worms :)

Old, traditional name, not weird at all!

@vickyeadieofthigh yeah, bizarre isnt it.
It was 5 years ago though and maybe it hadn't started to come back then? I know it's a lot more popular now.

'such a weird name'.
...
'such a dickish thing to say'.

It's a nice name.