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?

I don't think it's weird but this is why many people don't share names before the baby is here.

@TrickyD

Esmé is a lovely name, though for a girl I would choose the traditional feminine version Esmée. The problem you and she will always have, as demonstrated by plenty of posts on here, is that it will be incorrectly spelled as Esme, no accent on the 'e'.

Esme- no accents - is the standard U.K. spelling for the girl’s name. Just like we use Amy and not Aimée.

She’s rude.

Esme ❤️

It is a lovely name. I know two. One who went to school with my children and another born just recently.
My in laws didn’t like the name we chose for our eldest. We went with it anyway and the ended up liking it.

Esme is a fabulous name. It's my MIL's name and she is such a hoot it has very positive conotations for me. If you had chosen a weird name, with a number or with a couple of apostrophes in it, I would have agreed with your nan but would have still said she shouldn't have commented on it like that.

My response would be “thankyou that’s the reaction we are looking for ”

Don't worry, it's just that she hasn't heard of it. When DS was born, we told my parents his name, and they made all the right noises, double checking the spelling etc. It was only a couple of days later my mum said 'We googled DS's name and it turns out it is actually a real name!'. This is a name that at the time was in the top 50...

My in laws made it clear they wanted us to call my daughter a certain name. MIL used to say how much FIL wanted his granddaughter to be called 'Kate'.

When we gave her our choice of name they thought the name we had called her was odd.

Only once afterwards did we hear a mention of FIL being disappointed she wasn't called Kate. Nothing ever again.

Just ignore and go with Esme, it's a lovely name.

One of the ladies in my church has the name, it is not a weird name at all.
Yes, best keep your ideas to yourselves next time. We had people sticking their oar in with DC1 with suggestions of names but I remember closing them down probably a bit bluntly because I was a bit taken aback how forward they were. Think - God, no, no way, I don’t like that at all, in response to You could call the baby X. With DC2 I was even more annoyed at the suggestions of girls names which revealed desperate hope for a girl so I took great delight in saying it will probably be a boy as everything seems the same so we’re not thinking much about girls names.

None of her business, what a weird reply! Agreed with everyone saying not to tell anyone the name beforehand because in my experience everything sounds 'weird' before it's the actual baby's name, and people feel like they have a right to chip in.

And just to add, Esme isn't even a weird name! There's an Esme at DS' nursery and I've always thought it was pretty.

It's a beautiful name op.

Trust me I've heard some really weird names and I'd never dream of being so rude. I just keep the 'so weird' bit to myself and say something polite as do most people.

I know my nan thinks my kids Have weird names, I Don't take it personally, I think her kids have terrible names too 😅

I feel so much better after posting. I was expecting to get a lot of judgemental people on here like my nan but I'm glad I didn't. I really love the name, we both do and didn't think it was weird at all my Nan is a very strange, rude person, she always feels entitled to say negative things about Everything I do and the way I live my life, etc. to make me feel bad for some reason but I did NOT expect her to say this about DD's name. Next time, I shall keep quiet!

Also I've taught supply and come across a few esme's so can categorically say it's not even weird!

As above, do keep the name quiet,

it is a beautiful name

Accents are a pain with a Qwerty keyboard and all English database system. But it's a minor thing, you can have the name without accent for some things.

Show your nan the thread about calling a child 'thanksgiving' - that'll blow her mind

It's not weird. It's a beautiful name imo

Just don’t get hung up on the accent - in fact, for ease, I would spell it without the accent!

I was told my daughter's name was unusual.

My daughter is called Phoebe.

Not unusual then, just not well used.

I really like the name personally. As this was over text, I wonder if she knows how it is pronounced?

I was expecting something really strange there! This is not weird, it’s a lovely name and one of the ones we considered. At the end of the day people always have lots of opinions on names, the only one that matters if yours and your partners.

It’s a beautiful name. I’d stick with the traditional spelling, though, without an accent - it will be easier for your daughter.

It's a beautiful normal name.

I guarantee she'll be called Ez

Very rude reply. Esme is not to my taste but nor are 90% of the names that other people pick - that's why there are so many names out there.

I think it's a perfectly beautiful name. I've picked far more unusual names for my first (we arent finding out what we are having) and I know people dont like them but it's not their choice