Esme???

[EffieB]

Don't know what it is but every time I think I like a name I've gone off it a week later- the current contender is Esme- what do you think? Have a complicated surname so a shortish but not too common first name needed!

I like it as long as you pronounce it Esme (ez-mee) rather than Esmee (ez-may)

I am not a fan, sorry. There are quite a few of them in N London and people pronounce it "Ez-may" which is not so pretty. Es-mee is better.

But who cares what I think? It's your baby and you must call her whatever you like!

I like Esme i think its a beautiful name

I love it. How would you pronounce it? I prefer Es-may.

Makes me think of the JD Salinger story...

I like it although you'll get the Twilight comments.

Don't like it sorry.

How about Aoife?

Dastardly what are they? Haven't got in to it myself- presume it's a character??

Aoife not for me, though pretty name would feel very fake Irish!

I was only coming on the thread to tell you that people will say two things about Esme.

One, it's popular

Two, people are very sure of there being a 'best' or 'right' way to pronounce it.

There is option no 3, a debate about whether you should put Esmé if you want people to say it that way and whether that's stoopid because it's not a French name. But that comes under two, just off at a slight tangent.

It's a nice name btw.

Yes one of the vampires is called Esme so I think you'll get a lot of questions about being a fan.

I love the name Effie btw.

For God's sake, don't butcher it and pronounce it Es-mee!!

Would you pronounce Renée - Re-nee?

It's a French name, surely it deserves to be pronounced with at least a nod to the French pronunciation?

Esmée is the feminine form, Esmé the male form, just like Renée and René.

I like the French pronounciation.

Unfortunately know an obnoxious Esme so it's a no for me.

i just dont get the pronounciation thing
surely it is

Esmé = Ez May

Ezmee= Esmee ie not a name at all

I totally disagree with greensleeves Ezmee is AWFUL

sp pronunciation

I love the name Esme, I would use it and I would pronounce it ez-may.

Oh no, not the great "esme is French so you have to put an accent on" corker on MN again! Comes up every six months. Last time, someone came along and categorically proved it's not even a French name and loads of websites that say it is are talking bolleaux. Tis Scottish. Do a MN search, it'll come up.

DD is es-meeee btw. So ner. Butcher my arse. Esmay not nearly as nice. And the accent thing is just daft.

As well as the Salinger love and squalor Esmé
there is an androgynous Esmé in one of my favourite Saki stories. It's a hyena, they don't know the sex so they call it Esmé. It eats a stray toddler.

I like it. whichever way you pronounce it, with or without an accent. I did come across an Ismay which is another variation.

I only like Esme when PN Ez - may

I definitely prefer the Ez-may pronunciation.

LOL that someone is citing previous MN debates as authority on the pronunciation. Blind leading the blind, surely? I think I would definitely prefer an etymologist on this. Might have to resort to google...heh heh.

[comes back]

It is Old French, no? So the accent and pronunciation wouldn't be an affectation? Either way Ez-mee just sounds hideous.

Esmay sounds like dismay.

Es-mee sounds like pee.

Heh heh

Might have to hide this thread as getting wound up now. Esme "hideous" - pah, up yours.

Esme is a pretty name

(Tiptoes in to say..) like both pronunciations - really pretty - but wouldn't be my choice of name because of disagreements of how to pronounce it. But I'm a plain Jane kind of name-chooser.