Esme/Esmé

[DeeDeeDaisy]

DH has chosen one of DD's middle names - Esmé. It wasn't my favourite but I have basically chosen her first name and other middle name so I compromised!

My question is, do we soell it with the accent or no accent?

With it being a middle name, she will rarely need to write it down. I also think most people know how to pronounce it (although I know it has some pronunciation issues which is one of the reasons I didn't want it as a first name)

I know technically it should have the accent but we are in the UK and esme just seems easier. Don't want it to look stupid though, will people wonder why we have spelt it with no accent?

I’d spell it with the accent! Congratulations x

No accent

I don't think you need the accent. Very pretty name.

It matters less for a middle name, but I would spell it Esmée, as it's a feminine French past participle.

That said, Esmé is probably more common.

Esme is sometimes ez-mee, rather than ez-may.

I don't think any variant will cause confusion.

My Daughter is Esme. After much research I decided not only was the accent a faff and not recognised on official documents, it's also actually the masculine spelling of the original old french name so for a girl, without is best IMO

If it was the first name I’d agonise over it more but for a middle name I’d go simplest spelling and choose Esme, no accent.

Of course you need the accent as Esmé sounds different than Esme!

it's also actually the masculine spelling of the original old french name

Yes, Esmé is masculine and Esmée is feminine.

slinks about of of the thread as she thought it was about how nice it was as opposed to the correct spelling

It is a lovely name though. It was the name of my second car

Good grief, autocorrect has done a right number on my post 😮

You should spell it Esmée. It's the correct feminine form with two Es.

Just like René is masculine and Renée is feminine.

I pronounce Esme as Ezmee by default but Esmé as Ezmay by default. So I would use the accent (or not) depending on the pronounciation I preferred.

I'd go with no accent.

I'd spell it Esmée (for a girl) if I wanted it pronounced Esmay. I think if you're going to be authentic enough to use the accent then you might as well go for the right gender* version too. I'd spell it Esme if I wanted Esmee.

*before anyone gets all up in arms about the term "gender" I'm referring to grammatical gender, which is alive and well in French.

I think if you're going to be authentic enough to use the accent then you might as well go for the right gender version too.*

I agree. Esmée is the correct spelling for a girl!

My girl is Esmé and I love it but even with the accent she still gets Ez-me instead of Es-May all the time. Also some official forms don't recognise the accent when I've been filling things in for her. But then I liked the name and didn't want the Esmae spelling so I don't think I would've change it or gone without the accent. I do kind of wished I'd known about the feminine Esmée spelling though.

The accent isn’t used in official documents so formally is will Esme as well probably school. Informally she can be what ever you want. I have known a few Chloe’s who chose to add an accent to their name.

Esmé - boy's name
Esmée - girl's name

Esme - girl's name in UK.
Esmae, Esmay, Ezmae, Ezmay - awful

Esmae.

I would have pronounced esme as Ezmee and esmé as ez-May

I didn’t know about esmé being masculine and esmée being feminine so based on that I’d spell it Esmée