What do you think of this name? Honest opinions please!!

[Liliblueberry]

Esca - Celtic meaning: River
We are considering it for either boy or girl i.e as unisex name. Thoughts??

I like it, sounds nice , BUT I have an unusual Celtic name and outside of Scotland no one can pronounce it. I have to repeat it and spell it several times a day which is annoying, and often people think I have misspelt my own name (!) and they change it to something similar but more common. I think Esca will get called Esther a lot! For these reasons I would avoid. I wish my parents had named me something different

Eagle of the Ninth! Suspect a lot of Rosemary Sutcliff fans will make that association, but as long as that's not a problem?

I think it would have to be a boys name for me for that reason, but apart from that, lovely.

Tile, thank you - That is something for me to seriously consider, you are right x

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esca_(grape_disease)

No from me. What about Mary? I hear it's due a come back.

I think people would misshear it and your kid would forever be saying "No not Oscar, Esca"

It sounds feminine to me, so yes, for a girl.
Ezra for a boy.

I really quite love it for a girl!
In my opinion I think it's not quite right for a boy.

Maybe ask people with different accents to pronounce it and see if you still like it.

My name sounds fine when said by people with a scottish or Irish accent, but with an English accent it sounds ridiculous as it has a rolling R sound that English voices can't really say. You may find the same thing with Esca due to the 'c' sound e.g. Loch sounds like lock when said by an English accent.

Don't think there's anything wrong with an Eagle of the Ninth association!

It's a no from me , sorry .

I think he'll be embarrassed by it when he's older, so if you insist give him a normal middle name?

Thank you everyone l- so insightful!

Joanne, why do you think he'all be embarrassed by it?

I just think it sounds like a type of fungi, as posted above. Depends on your area I suppose, what about Ezra?

I really like it as a boys and a girls name.

Is it pronounced Essss-ka?

That's what I've been imagining. I'm English.

I would say it's meant to be Es-cahh, not Es-ka, so ending with a nice soft Celtic sound. Probably a very subtle difference.

@tile - yes that is the pronunciation I had in mind!

Really don't wish to be impolite but I don't know what you - or the babyname websites - mean by 'Celtic'. There are several different Celtic languages; conventionally they are grouped into Scottish and Irish Gaelic plus Manx and Welsh, Breton and Cornish. In Scottish Gaelic and some other 'celtic' languages , the word for river is abhainn (avann - still surviving in many place names as 'avon'). The word for stream is 'allt'.

The Scottish Gaelic word for water is uisge (oossh-kuh), which I think perhaps might have been the inspiration for the word 'Esca' in earlier novels. (A related word - in a different Celtic language (Welsh) - is the basis of the name of the River Usk. ) In almost all languages, the word 'water' can of course be used to refer to a river, but is rather less poetic.

This article is interesting: www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2011/mar/15/kevin-macdonald-the-eagle

But in the novels and films based on them, Esca is a male name, not female.

Interesting, thanks for pointing out Flora - I will look into origins a little more and will take a look at the article.

It's sweet :) Like it more for a girl as I'd probably assume it was short for Francesca!

I seldom like unusual names, but that
Is lovely.

It's quite like Ezra, and I think it's much more a male name, despite the 'a' ending. I like it a lot for a boy but I don't like it much for a girl.

I think it's lovely, for a boy or a girl.

It sounds very like the name of the village/small town I'm from (which could potentially have got its name from either Roman or Celtic sources). I think it's distinctive, though I've never heard it as a name.

There is no such thing as 'Celtic'.

There is no 'Celtic' word for anything.

Usually when you see a name referred to as 'Celtic' you can safely assume it is made up.

I don't dislike it but it sounds like a petrol station / one stop shop type place 😂😂😂

Just nipping round to the Esca for some milk.