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Original poster

Pronunciation of Esme

172 replies

Halfpastfreckle · 02/09/2018 09:56

We had pretty much decided on this name if this baby (currently 32 weeks) is a girl. I think of it as es-may. However at the park yesterday I heard one little boy call out to his sister Es-mee. Don’t like this at all and frankly it is putting me off. Is this a common pronunciation of the name??

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UntilTheVeryEnd · 02/09/2018 15:52

Could you maybe spell it Esmae? Maybe not a preferred spelling but certainly makes pronunciation clear c

FogCutter · 02/09/2018 15:58

There's 4 Esmes in the DCs school, 2 pronounce it Ez-may and 2 pronounce it Ez-mee.

And lots of people use the wrong pronounciation for the wrong child!

LusaCole · 02/09/2018 16:01

I only know one, she is Es-mee and she does have an accent on the second e.

PlatypusPie · 02/09/2018 16:03

Ez may. Never heard it pronounced as mee, but have only known two Esmes, so not a huge sample ! Ez may has charm but I don’t like ez mee

hamzilla · 02/09/2018 16:03

It's 50/50. It was top choice for our dc (who ended up being a boy) and I did a lot of research. It's a really ambiguous name in terms of where it originates, and there is no definitive answer as to the pronunciation, it's all down to personal preference.
In some accents, such as Scottish, Ez-may sounds better. In others, Es-mee does.
We would have gone for Es-mee.
And absolutely wouldn't have gone for an accent. The only precedent for that is to tell people to say ez-may. It would be Esmée in French.

VickieCherry · 02/09/2018 16:11

Never heard it as Es-mee - it sounds a bit American, maybe?

It's a French name and with an accent it's definitely pronounced Es-may.

LemonysSnicket · 02/09/2018 16:18

Es-may here and I honk it's lovely, never heard es-mee...

IVflytrap · 02/09/2018 16:21

I know one - she pronounces it "Ez -may". Only ever heard it said that way, tbh.

If the pronunciation issue is putting you off, there is an old medieval name "Ismay" which is similar to Esme but without the ambiguity.

yoghurtbinger · 02/09/2018 16:26

I know three, one is Es-mee and the others are Es-mae, one actually spells hers Esmae.

hungryhippie · 02/09/2018 16:26

I have never heard it pronounced Esmee either! Definitely Esmay to me.

Groovee · 02/09/2018 16:27

Esmay but it could be the Scottish accent.

Pompom42 · 02/09/2018 16:29

We have 2 in the Pre School I work and they are both Es mee.
I also know an adult and a cat and they are both Es mee too.

MinaPaws · 02/09/2018 16:33

Ez-may. Never heard it pronounced any other way.

MrsSnootyPants2018 · 02/09/2018 16:36

Es-may is awful! It's es-mee

CaptainCallisto · 02/09/2018 16:37

I know four Esme's. The eldest is 96, the youngest is three. Only one of them (the youngest) pronounces it Esmay.

BadBadBeans · 02/09/2018 16:40

I've never heard anyone say Esmee! I can't believe how many people on here have! I would pronounce it Ez-may, whether or not it had the accent. And I'm British!

whiteroseredrose · 02/09/2018 16:40

I know two, both pronounced es-mi.

PuppyMonkey · 02/09/2018 16:43

Ah I haven’t been on one of these threads for ages - I have an 11 year old Esme, whose name is pronounced Ez-me. Actually though it’s a bit softer than the meeeeeeee mentioned here. It’s a quicker mi sound.

I hate hate hate Esmay, it always makes me think of Dismay.

All the proper old lady Esmes around are Ez-meeees. IMHO Ez-may started around the time of all these SophieMay Names that everyone started adopting.

TBF, OP, we just tell people the name and they pronounce it the wAy we tell them. Not a massive inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

Original poster
Halfpastfreckle · 02/09/2018 16:52

Thanks so much for all the replies. Many of them are such polar opposite views though! It’s so surprising to me, and seemingly so many other people who have such a definite view of the name (one way or the other). On one hand I think you tell people your child’s name and then that’s it people know them as that irrespective of spelling but on the other hand I know that any time anybody might say es-Mee it will really annoy me!
Ismay in an interesting suggestion but only one letter different from Dismay which is not a good connotation I think??
My top choice would in fact be Isla but I can’t choose such a popular name. My own name is super super popular in my age group and I hate that about it. I’d like to give my child a chance of being the only one in the class (however DC1 Louis has turned out more popular than I thought).
This baby naming business is driving me mad!! Anybody got any good suggestions - for either sex??

OP posts:
Ricekrispie22 · 02/09/2018 17:22

Freya
Flora
Nina
Sasha
Cassie
Darcy
Stella
Iris
Lola
Rosalie
Genevieve

LusaCole · 02/09/2018 17:23

I don't think Isla is too popular - in fact I don't know any!

PuppyMonkey · 02/09/2018 17:32

What about Esther?

Original poster
Halfpastfreckle · 02/09/2018 18:27

Isla is top 10 name if not top 5 I think?

OP posts:
Disfordarkchocolate · 02/09/2018 18:30

Ez may for me too, it how a family member pronounces their own name.

CocoLoco87 · 02/09/2018 18:35

Esme to me is ez-me. If I wanted to use the name ez-may then I'd probably spell it Esmae. Friend of a friend has an Esmae spelt like that. I'd never heard of Esmae till then, only heard Esme.