Esmé or Darcey?

[namechangedaily]

Which do you prefer for a girl?

Esme.

Darcey/Darcy - was first on my list for DS1 over a decade ago but didn’t really go well with our surname (and ended up having a boy!)

Love it, Darcey Bussell the ballerina is beautiful and elegant.

Love Esme as well but know of quite a few now.

SummaLuvin

I’m saying I wouldn’t give a child a name with a downmarket rep because I don’t think it would be helpful to them

I’m saying I wouldn’t give a child a name with a downmarket rep because I don’t think it would be helpful to them

But what if you live in an “upmarket” area? Does it then stand to reason that you “neutralise” the downmarket-ness of said name???

Surely a “downmarket” name will only be a hindrance if you’re surrounded by class obsessed twats as you grow up, right?

Esme - it has a nice elegant literary association and a pretty sound (particularly the Ez-May pronunciation you'd use). Not keen on Darcey, I sadly mostly hear the "arse" sound in it and link it more with the male Darcy in P and P rather than the ballerina.

I have a 7 week old dd named Darcie. I like Esme too. I've seen mn saying its really common but I don't know of any other Darcies (or Darcey/Darcy) I'm in Scotland and its rare here i think.
Also laughing at the downmarket comments...I don't think I am "downmarket", but my other DDs name has also been called "chavy" on here...so maybe I am haha!

Strokethefurrywall

It's just how it is. There are some names about which teachers and employers make assumptions. Depending what you want out of life, this might be a disadvantage. I don't think Darcy is the Neveah category BTW, but it does seem to be heading in that direction.

Definitely Esmé!

@Luredbyapomegranate

Strokethefurrywall

It's just how it is. There are some names about which teachers and employers make assumptions. Depending what you want out of life, this might be a disadvantage. I don't think Darcy is the Neveah category BTW, but it does seem to be heading in that direction.

Still confused. Can you explain exactly what direction it is heading in? And why that is a bad thing? It seems like your are being rather snobby and think the name is bad because of increasing use from lower classes. Is that the case?

I prefer Esme (can’t find an accent). Always liked it. Agree Darcey seems a little 10 years ago. Plus I don’t like surnames as first names on the whole. Esme is quite popular now though. How about Anais for the French vibe and less popular?

Love 'Esmé' Not keen on 'Ezmee '

@Luredbyapomegranate

Strokethefurrywall

It's just how it is. There are some names about which teachers and employers make assumptions. Depending what you want out of life, this might be a disadvantage. I don't think Darcy is the Neveah category BTW, but it does seem to be heading in that direction.

I like ' Neveah' didn't know it was considered 'chavvy' ?

Darcey is awful. Esme (without accent, because that’s a masculine spelling) is better, but you’ll have pronunciation problems and I can’t say I’m keen.

Darcey Bussell's actual name is Marnie. Darcey is her third name, which at a guess is honouring someone with the surname.
Much like Harper Lee.

Esmé is very popular these days. I know 5 of them in the last 8 years.

Definitely Esme.

Both names are beautiful but honestly some of the people replying to this tread are nasty and disgusting people, we're talking about names, some of you should be ashamed

Both are beautiful but I would prefer Darcey:-)

I don't like Esmé because it sounds very "twilight" to me. In fact I don't think the name gained any attention until the horror that is twilight came to be. I mean, the name sounds kinda nothingy to me to begin with, but that didn't help !

Darcy is fine, makes me think of Pride and Prejudice which is much nicer as references go. It also feels more substantial and with more character than Esme.

I wouldn't pay too much heed to people saying the name is this or that. My mother was an absolute ass about my son's name because she thought it was "chavvy". His name's Mathias so hardly a difficult name to bear. But she was so much of a jerk about it that I'm never telling her what I'll name my third.

Darcey will always be Mr Darcy to me, so I wouldn't use it for a girl.
Esmé is ok, remind me of Twilight.

Esme. Not at all keen on Darcey

Your child will be judged negatively with a name like Darcey. Esme isn't much better tbh.

Both lovely names but I like Darcey the best.

Esmé!

Beautiful name.

I loved Darcie and had it on my list for girls but then I found out someone from school had the name for her little girl and she's a very 'chavvy' mum so it completely ruined the name for me.

I also really liked Esme but I have 2 children with E names and one with an M name so didn't want the child with the M name feeling left out so went for another initial 🤣