Pronunciation of Esme?

[dietcoketime69]

Would you say Es - mee or Es - may?

Anyone with an Esme? Do you have to constantly correct people?

[grobagsforever]

See, I love Esmeee but loath Ez-mai which is party why I want to call DD2 Esmeralda to give her options. I think Ez-mai sounds dreadful, sorry I'm getting some grief on my thread for Esmeralda though!

[moomin35]

Es-may and much prefer this, dont like Ez-me

[janey68]

Ez-may

Never heard of Ez-mee

[ThingsThatShine]

Only ever met es-mees

[ShoeWhore]

I would definitely say Ez-May

[pinkgirlythoughts]

Until the last few years, I'd only ever heard it pronounced ez-mee, but now the ez-may spelling seems to be more common around here. I've taught children with these spellings: Esme, Ezmae, Esmae and Esmee (with an accent). In fact, I once had two in the same class, one was ez-mee and one was ez-may.

[KaFayOLay]

I had a friend, she was Ez Mee.
My dd knows one, she is Ez May.

Personally, I prefer Ez Mee.

[TimeToThinkOfYourFuture]

I teach a child called Esmai- no room for doubt then

[PrimalLass]

Ez-may. The other way just doesn't roll off the tongue.

[Nandocushion]

The Es-mee thing is for anglophones. The name is Es-may, with an accent. DD is one, and we don't fuss about either pronunciation, but as we do use the accent it is obviously Es-may.

[JapaneseMargaret]

I'd never even heard of the Es-mee pronunciation until Mumsnet. I suspect that it's only in the UK where people would pronounce it this way.

I can't imagine Renee ever being pronounced Ren-ee.

[splendide]

I know one , she's Ez-mee. I actually didn't know that it could be ez-may

[OddBoots]

Actually, thinking about it, if I wan't sure I'd probably mumble the last syllable until I heard other people who know the person better say it.

[Waa]

I know two. One is Ez-May, the other is Ez-me.

[WowserBowser]

I would always pronounce it ez may. Didn't even know you could pronounce it ez mee.

[OddBoots]

If I didn't have the chance to ask I would default to Ez-may.

[TheScience]

I would say Esmee and prefer that pronunciation. Maybe put the accent in if you definitely want Esmay.

[SixImpossible]

I've known four Esmes. All female, two my parents' generation and two my dcs' generation. Two, one older and one younger, pronounced it Ezmay; two, also one older and one younger, pronounced it Ezmee.

Curiously, the only Esmes I've come across in literature have all been male.

[florascotia]

Ez-may was the original pronounciation, with an accent on the final e.
It's from an old French version of the verb 'esmer' (ez-may) = 'to esteem'.
And it was originally male.
First used in British Isles for one of Scottish King James VI's favourites, politician Esme Stewart (sorry, can't do accents on this machine).

Now in UK top 100 for girls and rising quite fast, from 202 in 2002 to 65 in 2012.

[Appletini]

Ez-mee.

[LaydeeC]

Es-mee - definitely

[AmysTiara]

Ez may

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Es-May. Well more Ez-may.

I did look slightly askance at the first person I heard say Ez-mee but as it was their daughter I thought it best to nod and smile.

I've since discovered it is actually a variant pronunciation but much like Clara pronounced Claire-a not Klara, I find it much less attractive.