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 think grannies reserve the right that to be blunt. I wouldn't text back that I thought she was rude - you'll just create bad feeling that doesn't need to exist. Just go ahead and call your baby what you like and everyone will come around.
My nan told me my dd's name was ugly, my mum said my ds' name was a dog's name - no one could ever call my family tactful . Made no difference to me - I named them what I wanted anyway and family got used to it and it's all fine. No bad feeling anywhere.
Sometimes a name choice really is awful and the parents can't see it because and it's nice if relatives can point that out before it's a done deed and provide pause for thought.
Esme is nice, just take no notice and let opinions wash over you.

I think it may well be the accent 😂 some of
These comments are cracking me up!!

Ignore her, it's lovely. This is why we never told anyone what names we had picked before the babies arrived. Once they're here and you've named them people are less likely to say they don't like it and if they do, tough it's too late anyway!

I don't like it but then you might not like my children's names either. If you like it that is all that matters, it is not an odd name by any means! She was rude to comment that way but I wouldn't let it get you down. My mum didn't like my dd's name but we did so we went ahead with it, she has completely forgotten about not liking it initially.

Esmé isn't weird at all! What a rude thing for her to say (even if it was unusual!) 🤦🏾‍♀️

Lovely name

How about ‘it’s a lovely name, your message is weird’, because that’s the truth. It’s a lovely name.

@Maves

It's not weird but it's over popular. Maybe she meant weird that you'd picked it for that reason?

The only Esmé I know is my daughter, no one in her class/nursery or even anyone that I know doesn’t know anyone else called esmé we always get told it’s a rare name to have so I think it depends where your from

@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'.

This. My friend has Anaïs, but everyone spells is Anais, and so they have all but given up with the ï

I know two Esmes, one in her sixties, one in her twenties. It suits both of them so beautifully.
Congratulations on your baby girl! Esme is a beautiful name

Don’t let it upset you. It will be a generational thing, it might sound weird to her but it’s a beautiful name. I’ve found with my grandparents (& now my mum) that as they get older they have no filter. When I was considering boy names I said I wanted the name Josh. My gran said you can’t call him that.....followed by a racist comment. I was a bit taken aback too.

I think GMs are usually pretty old fashioned with their choice of names TBH! What was fashionable then isnt now really .Also Newsflash! YOUR BABY your choice ! As soon as she arrives everyone will fall in love with her and the name will be accepted .Dont worry .Just ignore or dont engage .

I'm in my 50s & to me it's a name from my GM's generation.

Along with Ivy, Phoebe, Clara.

All perfectly nice names, just have to get my mindset away from "old lady" names.

Why does it matter to you if she thinks it's weird?

Normal name, not weird at all.

It is traditional though?
In the 1920s/30s there were a couple of thousands of them.

To give some context, the most popular names in one year in England generally get 4/5,000 babies called that. So 2,500 over a decade is a reasonably popular name. Not one of the very popular, but certainly ‘usual’.

I don’t think Esme is weird at all. My DD does have a much weirder name however and I just ignored the comments. My mum said `’you CANT call her XX” and I just thought hehe yes I can. Ignore! My DD loves her name too. If you love it, use it, it’s not up to your Nan.

Your Gran is rude

But as an aside, there's no such thing as 'a right name'. You can't possibly pick a name everyone will like because there's no such thing.

How horrible. It's a bloody gorgeous name

I would drop the accent. Difficult to type on some keyboards plus she’d forever be telling people it’s an e with an accent, plus a lot of them would get the accent the wrong way round.

Other than that it’s a lovely name and your nan’s comment is the thing that’s weird in this scenario.

It’s not weird, in fact I would have said it’s a name of your nan’s generation making a reappearance. It’s a lovely name.

Perfectly fine name. I hadn't heard it till my son went to nursery and a little girl there was called Esme. They are now 15. Think it is being used more now. Easy to spell. Enjoy your baby.

When I named my son Oliver 35 years ago people were amazed it was so unusual. 🤷‍♀️ I obviously started a trend.
I like Esme.

I think I’d reply saying weird response. I know three Esme’s, nothing weird or unusual about it!

That's a nice name. 😊

To be honest I've had family members choose names that I think are a bit out-there or weird but 1) I'd never say that and 2) you get used to it and can't imagine the child with any other name.

There will always be people who don't like the name you pick but most of them won't be rude enough to say tell you!