I regret my daughter's name :-(

[storyofus]

It's Esmé.. (ez-May) she gets es - me all the time.. there's quite a few others.. I just wish I'd called her something else

The French spelling for a girl is Esmée.

Chloë in English has a diaraesis which is why it’s ee instead of ay (even when people don’t use the accent).

This is my daughters name, spelt the exact same. We have the same issues. I had to go in and see her head teacher last week as I am sick and tired of them spelling it Esme, her name is Esmé for a reason.

i don’t regret it one bit though, it’s such a beautiful name

I have a friend who got annoyed when people called her DD Sarah rather than Sahhra.
Try to ignore it as you are probably the only one who cares.

Meant to add to my comment - OP it’s a lovely name, try not to worry. Hopefully you’ve seen from other comments that this kind of issue happens the other way round too, and with lots of other names. There’s a name very similar to my eldest DD’s name, which unbeknownst to me was more popular round here when she was born. It was very frustrating having every second person ask “do you mean Y?” when I said her name was X.
Keep correcting where possible and before long she’ll be correcting people too.

I’m chiming in to say (hopefully helpfully) that people will learn and you can have similar difficulties with any name. One of my children has a very unusual name, but it’s my other child who has her name often mispronounced and misspelt.
Your child’s name is lovely and I think you’ll feel better about it in time. It’s a well known name with a well known pronunciation. It’s not like you’ve called your child Sarah and you’re insisting it’s pronounced Jessica .

It’s not about “being the only one that cares” this is my daughters name also and she’s 6 now and believe it or not it really gets to her now. That people constantly misspell and mispronounce her name, her name is Esmé not Esme and people should care it’s plain rude if they don’t

I like it 🤷‍♀️ I mean it's not an uncommon name, I know 3 all under aged 4, pretty sure the issue with pronunciation will pass as it's a popular name. I went to school was a siân and she spent her entire life saying it's "sharn" not "si-anne", that spelling can be pronounced both ways so it wasn't just the person being stupid. With Esme there's only 1 way to pronounce it so she shouldn't have issues as it becomes more popular.

My dd has a name that is often mispronounced and mis spelled. Had I known she would spend her life putting people right, I would have chosen something else. She is in her mid 30’s now and still correcting people

I know an Esme pronounced Es-me. Do you spell it with the accent every time to make sure it’s pronounced correctly. If it’s not written down and you’re introducing your daughter surely everyone would pronounce it as you want. I guess the problem is you can pronounce it both ways 🤷‍♀️

You can't control any name once it is out there. I get people just helping themselves to pet names - I was always called by my full name within the family but people just assume you must be a Chris, or Chrissy or Christy - I gave up in the end and answer to almost anything. I just complain if I get Tina as that does not feel like me at all. The rest I put up with.

My point being that with Esme, which really is a lovely name, you're getting some mispronouncing but almost any name might have had some kind of issue with it as time goes on. You can't second-guess that happening. You just enjoy calling your lovely girl her lovely name and ignore the rest of it.

I've only met 2 people who have mispronounced my DD name and it is the exact same as your daughters with the accent

It's a beautiful name, honestly you're over thinking things

It’s not about “being the only one that cares” this is my daughters name also and she’s 6 now and believe it or not it really gets to her now. That people constantly misspell and mispronounce her name, her name is Esmé not Esme and people should care it’s plain rude if they don’t

It annoyed me when she was that young as yes she was learning her names -but later on with exam certificates and legal documents that accent may be an issue.

So expecting people to care enough to get right I do think is the best way forward.

Yes in my DD’s class too. The Es-May has now asked to be just called May.

It’s a lovely name and there are two in my daughter’s nursery. Before long it will be a much more recognised name. I have an Irish name, I am forever correcting people on how to pronounce it. It is character building and genuinely I love having an unusual name.

It’s a beautiful name - keep correcting people.

It's a lovely name. But I think you either need to get used to people saying it different ways or change it. It's easy to say correct people-but every time? Forever? And she'll have to do the same, all her life.

I'm late 30s and people still can't pronounce my first name. Add my surname and there's no hope. I just correct them (including family like my uncles and aunts)!

Esmé is a beautiful name. Do you still like the name, @storyofus ?

I would pronounce Esmè as ez-may and Esme as es-me

Lovely name.

I have said Ezmay unless told otherwise.

I agree with keep correcting people!

Gorgeous name! Don’t change it just for a few idiots who can’t pronounce what is a perfectly normal and easy name…

my DD also has a name that people struggle to pronounce… she uses a shortened version now at 17, but I’ve told her many times over the years that I should have just named her Bob!

My daughter is a much older Esme and very unique when I chose her name. We pronounce Esmee and I have corrected people occasionally that have used Esmay .
You will get used to it . Esme is a beautiful name regardless of how people pronounce it.

This is the same type post from 2009. I’m guessing when the name wasn’t as popular as now. I think it’s Es-me without the accent and Es-May with.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/baby_names/804526-Would-you-pronounce-Esme-Es-me-or-Es-may

I don’t think people are mispronouncing the name on purpose, it’s just if you don’t clock the accent then it’s Es-me.

I named my daughter Amelie and she is now 7 and I cannot count the amount of times she has been referred to as "Amelia"...I just roll my eyes now and say "Amelie" and carry on the conversation.

It’s a lovely name. Lots of lovely and popular names have different pronunciations. I have a friend called Alicia pronounced Al-ISS-ee-a but she is often called Alisha. She just corrects people and it’s not a huge issue.
I wouldn’t worry about it. Correct every time!

(I think the Ez-May pronunciation is much nicer than Ez-mee anyway!)

My DD is Esme, no accent, so pronounced Ez-me, she gets called Ez-may all the time, I just correct people, it's really not an issue.