Spelling of name

[essexmuma]

We've decided to call our daughter, due soon, Esmèe. We're decided on the name & love it so please no hate, but we can't seem to decide / agree on the spelling. We want it to be pronounced Ez-may not Ez-mee hence the accent use. Whilst I agree Esmè looks a bit neater, I can't shift the thought that I know Esmèe is the correct feminine spelling of the name and Esmè is masculine ( I speak French although am not French ) & thought if we're going to use it we should it properly but now I feel unsure. Thoughts?

[quote CloseYourEyesAndSee]@Geamhradh I speak french myself, but it's a fact that the vast majority of English (as a first language) speakers don't
Silly to pretend otherwise[/quote]
As you can see from the thread, I think most people (particularly as French has always been the second language in schools since forever) can cope with an acute accent. Possibly even a grave.

I'd go with either Esmée or Esme. Definitely not Esmèe, Esmè or Esmae. Se people might pronounce it EsME, but that just goes with the name.

@Geamhradh

The Esmé spelling and accent has been used in the UK for about 400 years so although Esmée is the French standard form, I think people will have less trouble with the one "e". Historically, the British name (short for Esmeralda when first introduced) was pronounced /ezmi:/ then as the French version also became popular the pronunciation shifted to be more like that. On another thread I (boringly) go on about the phonological difference between a French /e/ and an English one. Without the accent, I think you'd get a combination of /ezmei/ and /ezmi:/ pronunciations.

This is really helpful thank you

English speakers won't know the meaning of the accent though so please don't bother with it. Just call her Esme

I think most do know. And by spelling it Esme, people will pronounce it as Es-me.

If you want Esmé spell it Esmé

If you want Esmay, spell it Esmay or Esmae.

Spell it correctly as you have done. Don’t change it just because of how it looks written down.

The fact that a few self selecting people on a mumsnet thread know the difference between an acute and a grave accent does not mean most English speakers will do.
I mean, fine, spell it how you want, but don't kid yourself that the accent will mean people know how you want it pronounced.

My name is spelt with an accent….. I have never used it ever in the history of writing my name. Waste of time!
Esmee or Esme are both lovely

Esmé is the traditional male spelling, Esmée the feminine spelling.
However, in English speaking countries Esmé is definitely more used for feminine.

Theres no y sound at the end. It is more like ez-mae.

I know a few now and nobody has any issue with knowing it is pronounced Ez-mae. It has increased so much in popularity in the past 15 years I would no longer class it as a name people couldn't cope with pronouncing. People cope perfectly well with Tresemmé and café.

@CloseYourEyesAndSee

The fact that a few self selecting people on a mumsnet thread know the difference between an acute and a grave accent does not mean most English speakers will do. I mean, fine, spell it how you want, but don't kid yourself that the accent will mean people know how you want it pronounced.

But it is how the name is pronounced AND how the name is spelt, not how op wants it pronounced

And when you introduce the baby to people you say it. Most people wont even need to know theres an accent. As you will say the name to them.

I cannot imagine op ever having a conversation on the street with someone going something like…
Op: her name is esme with an acute accent
Randomer: oh an accent?! I cant work that pronunciation out! Ez-meee?

If you prefer the correct spelling OP, then definitely use it.
I am Irish and if I lived in the UK I would still spell and pronounce my children's Irish names the original/correct way. I certainly wouldn't change them to an incorrect spelling to please hypothetical strangers! People who matter to you will learn your child's name.

(However, I wouldn't be fussy/pedantic about using an accent/fada etc on computer records - I think it's ok to accept some limitations with computer based text )

Even if some English speakers don't know what an é is, the op should spell the name correctly imo. Because many do know. And hopefully the op's dd will too.

In my experience, the vast majority of English people have just enough exposure to French at school to know how to pronounce é.

Most people will know how to pronounce Esmé. And if one or two need correcting - so what? It won't take long.

I would still pronounce it Ez- me. I would only say it the 'new' way if it was Esmae.

Knowing the British the Esmée spelling will lead to Esmee pronunciation.

So I’d stick to the Esmé spelling.

It's nothing whatsoever to do with Esmeralda, which means Emerald. www.behindthename.com/name/esmeralda

Esme is a French-language past participle used as an adjective and means 'esteemed' or - at a stretch - 'loved'.
In French, it has an acute accent on the first or only e. If masculine, there's just one e. If feminine, two x e with an acute accent on the first.

It was introduced to the UK by a male favourite of bisexual king James VI.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esm%C3%A9_Stewart,_1st_Duke_of_Lennox

It's pronounced es-meh or (less accurately) es-may.

It's Esmée. Or Esmé.

Using a grave accent changes the pronunciation, and is wrong anyway.

I think people will just see the the two ees and say Ez-mee so I'd stick to the traditional spelling.

If I saw your added ‘e’, I’d assume it was because your wanted to pronounce it Ezmee.

Esme is fine, with or without the acute accent.

I would say Ez mee too unless written as Esmae which isn't as pretty

Dh is useless at languages. He reads things as he sees them. I asked him:
Esmé - he said EzMay
Esmeé - he said Esmee

How does he cope with names of greek origin. Thomas for example?

@EdgeOfACoin

In my experience, the vast majority of English people have just enough exposure to French at school to know how to pronounce é.

Most people will know how to pronounce Esmé. And if one or two need correcting - so what? It won't take long.

Totally true! Thank you

@Nap1983

My name is spelt with an accent….. I have never used it ever in the history of writing my name. Waste of time! Esmee or Esme are both lovely

If it helps OP in my head when I read these I read "Esmee" as Es-me and "Esme" as Es-may. If UK systems are likely to lose the accents you might be more likely to get the pronunciation you want with Esme.

I looked and the spelling and immediately thought 'Ez-may'

I don't think you'll have a problem.

Even if people pronounce it wrong, just correct them.

Beautiful name btw.

We have an Esme. We pronounce it Es - may, and have never encountered anything different.