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?

@OwlBeThere

Sorry *@Stroopwaffle5000* your autocorrect from dd to dad has me the mental image of an adult man in his 60s in a tutu with toddlers and has made me laugh 😂

@OwlBeThere Haha well you never know these days

I named my daughter Esme. Some people were unsure at first but now love it. We love it! Go for it.

It's a beautiful name brandnew coffee.
How tacless of her.
Don't let it put you off tbe name.It's elegant and pretty.
Good luck with the birth, enjoy your beautiful Esme

I know an Esme and she is wonderful and her name is one of my faves

I love the name Esme think it's beautiful

What on earth is wrong with Esme? I dont get it. Some people are weird.

That's one of the problems of relating people the name before the baby is born, people seem to think they have a say in it. They tend but to say the same when the baby arrives

It’s a beautiful name. And at least you have spelt it correctly, unlike the various weird variants I have seen out there. I would keep the accent on it too despite being in the U.K. - Britain is a multicultural place and the accent is correct (though it won’t appear on your child’s U.K. passport 🙄 but that’s by the by...!).

It's a lovely name. Glad it's popular again. Was my aunt's name. It has also been popular in Cornwall.

@Angelil

Passports are in block capitals, I think, so accents can be omitted.

é is from French - it makes the ay sound.

Esmé is such a pretty name, not weird at all! Even if you were calling your kid Cauliflower though, it's rude to comment like that!

How does her saying its weird, make it weird? Does she decide all things? No, she is one person.

Everyone has their 'ten pence worth' when names are picked.

I'd just gone through a 30 hour labour and FIL (who is usually lovely) decided to say that his sister isn't really like DD's name. To which my DH said, after watching Finished go through what she has I couldn't give 2 shits what Aunty thinks!

Needless to say MIL left him at home the next night and he did apologise.

It's a lovely name! My Nan comes up with the worst names, and is very opinionated on not liking anything we do 😂 I just ignore her as he taste is so far from mine and via versa!

Rule #1. Don’t share the name until after the babe is born. If people insist you break rule #1, lie about the name

@cherish123 lol I know...I AM French!

its nice , there are really really weird names out there , your nan has obviously not heard the half of them bless her , esme is not very common which i think adds to its appeal , unlike the loads of graces and isla about , its just no doubt shes not heard it before so thats why its strange to her , the only esme iv known was a girl in my dds class when she was in junior school ,iv never met another since , i like names that arent common and yet arent outlandish so just stick with it id say

Could it be nan used predict text and meant to say wonderful?? Seems like a harsh thing to say in a text!

A very valuable piece of advice that I learned is, if anyone is criticising you look at how they are doing in their own life.

If she is a woman that is miserable and upset, don't take her advice.

For example, the only person who ever asked me why I wasn't having children, is a woman that I know who absolutely hated being a mother. She really hated being a mother and shouted at her child all the time.

So I look at her advice.
Is she telling me I should have children because it is a good thing for women to do, and it will be good for me?
Or is she telling me that I should have children, because she personally hated being a mother, and is jealous that I am child free?

It is the latter. Always look at the situation of the person who is giving you the advice. And then trust yourself.

@PetraRabbit

She's an older lady who wouldn't be familar with the name. You can't expect everyone to love the name you choose unfortunately. I'd just laugh it off as her being a bit rude but harmlessly so, and tell her it's a top 50 name these days and you wanted something popular that people will recognise and that everyone else likes it! That won't be what she's expecting to hear!

She'd have to be pretty elderly! It's not a new name.

First thing my DH’s Nan said was oh that’s a funny name but I’m sure I’ll get used to it and that was upon meeting our first daughter. Loads of people said stuff like that and it’s a really popular top ten name now and wasn’t even weird then. Older people are used to different names for their children and remember that they chose your parent’s names. Compare with current trends. I know I wouldn’t pick either of my nan’s names or any of our parent’s names but they were their choice. Just ignore it, it’s a lovely name.

Esmé is a gorgeous name - it's elegant, classic and will grow with her. It suits any age. I know an Esmay and an Esmé and they both really suit it.

My grandmother's only comment on our choice of name when my mum told her our DD was born was "as long as they don't shorten it"! It's not a name that can really officially be shortened apart from chopping the end off it - a bit like making Rach from Rachel. It's not a name that has a shortened version

Try not to take it to heart, when I had my dd 10 years ago she went 10 days with no name then we settled on Maya. My mum said to us did you just make that up?.. now she loves the name x

My mother in law has been very vocal and unforgivably rude about the name of one of her grandchildren. It's caused a lot of pent up resentment.
The ONLY correct response on hearing a name is "how lovely". And Esme IS lovely.

When people do things that are sort of passive aggressive but in this case passive offensive I think it’s best to make them own that comment. 1. We don’t think it’s weird otherwise we wouldn’t have chosen that, why would you say that? / thank goodness we told you now cos if you had said that when shes born I would burst into tears/ I trust you mean unusual or unfamiliar to you. Don’t be too upset people just blurt things out which is not okay but that says stuff about them not you or your choice of name and we need all sorts of names. Imagine if we all liked the same or very similar