Mairead or Esme?

[ilikeyoursleeves]

What do you think?

How are you pronouncing Mairead (MOI-rid or Ma-RAID)? Like both actually and would never have thought philpott... Not keen on Esme at all tbh.

Mairead is beautiful. By the time she could say her name, association with Philpott will have long gone

I like Mairead, and think the Philpott association will be short-lived.

Esme is nice, but getting a little tired now. The pronunciation is an issue too - will never understand the rational behind the pn Es-mee - as far as I can tell, no-one outside the UK goes for this pronunciation? it's akin to pronouncing Renée=Renny and pâté=patty.

Esme. It's my favourite girls name but ex vetoed it for dd . Her name now is equally lovely to be fair but I do love Esme.

But Renée and pâté have accents to tell you to pronounce them with an 'ay' sound at the end. Esme does not. Esmé does.

So no, it's nothing like pronouncing Renée 'renny'.

I hear you, but having only ever heard the Es-may pronunciation until coming onto Mumsnet in my 30s (I'm not in the UK), hearing it pronounced Es-mee is like hearing Renee pronounced Renny.

Sorry, I feel bad maligning someone's chosen name - genuinely - but it was just that the OP asked for opinions, and pronunciation issues can be a real factor when deciding on names. DD's name has three accepted pronunciations which we knew and made our peace with when we agreed on it. People only ever have a 1 in 3 chance of getting it 'right'. Luckily we don't loathe any of the other pronunciations, and so either correct people, or leave it altogether if it's someone we're unlikely to have dealings with ever again. :)

Meh. If someone is too dim to pronounce something phonetically, it doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things, I suppose.

DD has several friends (and a couple of teachers) who insist on calling her Ez-may, despite having been corrected on many occasions. She just sucks it up now.

If you pronounce Renée as Renny, you're an idiot (or ignorant). If you pronounce Esme (no accent) as Ez-may, same applies!

Anyway, I'm allowing myself to be sidetracked. Go for Esme, OP. It's lovely :o

I agree with you Toby. My Esme doesn't mind the Es-may pronounciation but it is annoying when you correct people and they still mispronouce it. Still its not the end of the world.

Funnily enough I had never heard of the Es-may pronounication prior to naming my Esme. I only know ones who say Es-mee.

I also like Mairead OP. If I had some Irish in me I might have used it myself.

Two quite frumpy names. Sorry!

And if you do decide to go for Esmé/Esme the 'may' pronunciation is significantly nicer.

Has to be Esme - but please Ez-may which is defo the correct pn, accent over final e.

Esme to me means Granny Weatherwax from the Discworld books. This is a very good thing in a name.

Ez-may is indeed the correct pronunciation, IF you choose to put the accent over the 'e'.

Mairead is very lumpen and plain IMO. Esme is lovely.

Apart from Phillpot, isn't Mairead the equivalent of Barbara or Pauline in Ireland?

To be honest before the twilight phenomenon I did always read Esme as ez-mee but now every time I see it I read it as ez-may regardless of any accent over the e....got a feeling that will now be the case for most people so I don't think it matters what pronunciation you choose ,ur dd will forever be called ez-may by everyone except family and close friends she makes who will say ez-mee if that's the one you opt for.

As for mairead....it will be associated with the phillpot child killing scum for some time yet but give it a year and it will be completely forgotten,just very unfortunate timing for that name right now.

My personal vote would go to Esme (ez-may) xx

I like mairead, have always thought it sounds nice.

I like mairead, have always thought it sounds nice.

Mairead has an accent too, on the E... Gives the second syllable the long A sound instead of sounding like 'red'.

There are thousands of Maireads being startled daily at reading their name in connection with the Philpott case, but that will blow over. Who knows, maybe the next horrible murder will be committed by an Esme (whether 'Esmee' or 'Esmay').

Fwiw, I prefer Mairead but I am biased.
(Sorry can't do accents right now as DD4 spilled something into the number pad a few days ago and it's stuck solid)

DD id Esmé pronounced Ez-may. I decided on the name 13yr before she was born, she is 2.5 and i still love the name. Not a fan of Ez-mee however it really doesnt bother me if people pronounce it that way, its not the end of the world.

I think they'll be beautiful 'in the flesh' if that makes sense - the child makes the name etc. Not hugely keen on either though. Esme is my preferred though