Eliza or Esmée?

[Anametolove]

Just that, really, DD2 due in a few weeks and we were set on Esmée (spelt this way as half our family is French), but DH threw Eliza in the mix, and I really like it too.

Both would go well with our simple surname of one syllable.

So coming here for a quick poll. Would love to hear your opinion on which name is your favourite and why :)

Thanks!

Is Eliza a familiar name in France? If your daughter ends up living in France in the future will she have any problems with having to spell her name out etc?

I like Eliza.
Suits all stages of life.

She could shorten it to lizzie, Liz, El as she gets older.

Eliza - ideally short for Elizabeth, so she has lots of options.

Esme has been so overdone, and shot up so fast it will date. The French spelling comes over as extra fussy in the UK, like spelling Juliet Juliette, and it will get misspelt all the time.

Possibly spell it Elisabeth though, given the French connection

Love Alice!!

@PastTheGin @Notalldogs23 good question, it is not a name in France, so people would assume it is an unusual spelling of a derivative of Elise or Eloise, and pronounce it "Eleeza". Only the pronuncuation would differ. That's the difficulty, it works better in the UK than in France. But then it is not so out there that French people would have any difficulty with it (which they would with names like Freya, Maeve, etc).

How about Estelle? would work with the French heritage and is a lovely but not super common name.

I like it @VerityUnreasonble but I don't love it, Estelle is a bit dated in France but thanks a lot for the suggestion!

Good to know @theduchessofspork , I wouldn't want the name to come across as pretentious in the Uk if spelt the French way.

Emilie
Edith
Elodie

Eliza - so much stronger and prettier. Esmée is too frilly and doesn’t sound like a name to me, just a random sound if I’m completely honest

I'm not keen on Eliza as that reminds me of the online clothes shop and it was also a computer language many years ago.

Love Esmee but I would probably stick to the Esme spelling if you are UK based to avoid a lifetime of having to correct the spelling.

If she’s half French I like esmee better but could you spell it the English way if she’ll grow up here?
Eliza is ok but quite trendy and doesn’t sound great in French. How about the traditional full name elisabeth and have it as a shortening? Are there any other French names you like?

Love Eliza. Pretty to look at in writing too.

Yeah Like Ik someone called Esmai (Es may)

How about Alizée? Love that name

Eliza

I personally prefer Esmée , especially as she has a French mother. My father insisted on calling me Michèle and that's the name I've used for over 50 years. Yes, I do have to correct the spelling but I like that it's unusual.

Esther

Love both! Shame it's not twins!

Eliza definitely

Esme/esmae/esmee was very popular 10-15 years ago so may be a bit dated in the uk. As well as the spelling issues there’s also pronouncing es-me vs es-may constantly correcting people. Seems a bit of a PITA name to give a child.

Eliza is a lovely name, the one I knew went by fulll name or just Liza.

Aziliz is pretty too, although Breton as opposed to French.

I would go for Esme or Eliza . Both lovely names . Esmee with the accent is too complicated unless you live in France.

I really like Eliza. I recently met someone who pronounces it differently.
Usually i had heard people say E-lie-za.
But this one was E-lee-za which I thought was so pretty. I think her parents are Eastern European, possibly polish so that might be why it’s pronounced differently.

I am from the north of England and I don’t like how people pronounce Esme around here.