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 the French pronounciation: Es-meh (hard to explain in English) and really don't like the English pronounciations, be they they Es-MEE or Es-MAY.

It makes me think of Esme Weatherwax and am therefore v. impressed.

Isn't she a witch?

Haha my baby name book says it's French with an pronunciation of Ez-mee! Regardless, it is a pretty name.

Esme, with love and squalor: brilliant beautiful name.
I'd pronounce it Es-mee

I love the name, but only pronounced ez-may. As you can see, this is one that really divides people!

I don't like it, but probably because it reminds me of a very very obese brownies leader we once had.

I liked this name until I read this thread. I knew a very distinguished lady called Esme and pronounced Es-mee. I did not even consider the Ez-may pronunciation which I frankly do not like and would hate for my DD to get called this. Hence it is now off my list!

Lovely name, whichever way you pronounce it (but isn't Es-may more usual?)

My cousin used it. But our family being the piss-rippers that they are, there were an awful lot of "Es-may 'at on?" [trans: Is my hat on? for those non-Yorkshire speakers] comments.... Must admit I thought it was unusual.

Are you bothered by child having to spell the name out all it's life? This was one of my main pre-occupations/considerations. Have had to spell my name, all 4 letters, for last 40 yrs. Sigh. (Clue: Features in that well known nursery rhyme involving Jack and a pail of water. And it ain't Jack.)

Goodness it is truly a love/hate name isn't it?

Can't do an accent, would just feel way too fake French- which is one of my bugbears about name choices when people whip off to other cultures/ countries to raid their loveliest names with no other connection to it at all. It always feels a bit 'monster scaled white wedding' when you've not seen the inside of a church before or since. So it would be an English Ez-may if we chose it I reckon.

Quite nice

I love it. Also thought it was scottish.

The pronunciation thing does my head in though and is exactly why we decided against Eleanor for DD2.

Are there different ways of promouncing Eleanor?

Yes, there is El-uh-na and El-an-or.

I started a thread about it a few months ago.

Isn't that just a different in accent when saying the name?

I really can't think of two different ways of saying it. English people never pronounce an r anyway.

No it's not.

debated here

and here

I really like the name Esme, but agree you will probably get Twilight comments, not that i'd let that stop me if I liked a name.

I have an Esme. We say it Esmee not Esmay.

TBH I know several and only one of them says it Esmay, the rest are all Esmee.

Of course I am biased but I think it is very pretty.

At the time of choosing it I didn't realise you could say it Esmay as I had only ever met Esmees. However it is not a real problem at all, especially as Esmay is also quite nice.

Over my DD's school career so far she has had two years when her teachers have called her Esmay. The rest of the time her teacher has managed to pronounce it Esmee (our way). LOL. She doesn't mind luckily! One even started spelling it with the accent I noticed!

I think it's an accent thing. I've flicked through the threads. It's because the English cannot handle r in words and most prefer to pretend that it's not there. If you could hear those posters say the name, I bet 95% of them would saying the same thing.

If you lived in scotland, where people know how to pronounce r, there would be no confusion.

Oh and I always thought it was a unisex Scottish name too!

There are still two ways of pronouncing it pointydog, I don't know why you want to debate the ins and outs of it.