Is this name too rare to be used?

[SilkyChocolate]

I'm due in November with a girl, and I've really been liking the name Estée (pronounced ess-tay) after finding out that I had an ancestor called this. It's very simple and pretty to me. I think my DH is starting to come round to it too. Just wondering if I've gone mad.

I once knew an estee, I think she was French but we were in london.

I didn’t just to think of Estée Lauder in a bad way. I think the brand helped me to recognise it as a name of that makes sense but it didn’t bring anything negative thoughts. It’s a beautiful name. Similar sounding to esme which is fairly popular. Obviously as you can see from my post some people don’t have time to faff around with accents on letters so that’s the only thing I’d hesitate about.

Also all of them are pronounced Est-ee not Est- ay.
It's a lovely name.

She'll have to correct pronunciation and spelling for her entire life

Beautiful name, I really like it. I actually don’t think the brand is an issue. Anyone who actually knows your little one will think of them when then here it and not the brand.

The only thing I will say though is that I have an accent in my name and it is a bit of a faff. I don’t really use it for anything so my name is alway pronounced wrong. Although I don’t think that would necessarily be the case for Estée… I would probably pronounce Estee the same -

Where do you live, OP? Hearing it in your local accent might change your mind. But I do think it’s a pretty name.

I think it's beautiful. Didn't immediately think of the beauty brand, but even if people do, so what? That brand is named after the woman (her real name was esther nn Esty and they changed the y to ée.

I might put Estelle, Estella or Esther on the birth certificate and use the nn Estee. But it's lovely. Go for it.

I can't work out an accent in which it would sound ugly.

There is a film - Unorthodox in which the main character is Esty. That was my first thought rather than brand. Perhaps changing the last letter will make it less about the well known brand.
Edit. I like the name.

Not too rare. It’s a nice name. Theres an influencer called Estee Lalonde.

People will soon associate the name with your daughter, not the male-up brand.

I like it but I am not sure I would use for the reasons mentioned by pp.

I think it’s a beautiful name

Will you expect people to use the accent?

The name itself is fine IMO.

However I agree with the relation to the make up brand.

I would use something similar such as Estelle or Esme.

I think it's lovely - it comes originally from "star" in Persian I think, along with similarly beautiful names like Esther, Estelle and so on.

It's very cute for a little girl, and nicely sassy for a teen, but I think I'd be tempted to give her a full name that she can use when she's older, if she wants to, with the diminutive Estee for you and her to use now and for as long as she wants? We did this with our son's name, and it works well - he's just starting to prefer the full version over the nickname, and it's interesting how it changes how he is perceived, and how he perceives himself 🤔

I think your daughter is likely to hate have having to explain the accent and spell it out to everyone, particularly during her school years.

No, we would probably write it as Estee (without the accent) on a daily basis. I’ve just added it to my post because I thought people might ask why I hadn’t included the traditional accent if I want that pronunciation.

Use the name you love. It really doesn't matter if a handful of people think of the makeup brand when they first hear it (and so what if it does?), they'll soon get used to it first and foremostly being your child's name

I think it is too synonymous with the makeup brand, so maybe get lumped in with names like Chanel or Cartier.

I also am not keen on the sound. Think it would sound rough in the accents local to me (Home Counties) and also not great in other English accents like maybe the West Country, Yorkshire or Lancashire. Obviously this may not apply to you.

This is exactly who I think of. There’s another Estee I follow on TikTok too, who’s American. I think it’s a really pretty name.

In which case I would pronounce it ess-tee not ess-tay.

You should definitely include the accent if you are going to use it! Estee is S-tea like the letter S and tea the drink.

There are many beautiful French names which don't work in eg, a London accent. I personally wonder if Estée is one of them.

We considered a few French names for our dcs, but ultimately ruled them out after realising how they would sound in the London accent. Definitely worth considering!

Anaïs was one we loved but I couldn't deal with people pronouncing it Ann-ay.

All that said, if it's the name you love blah blah. It is far from the worst name I've ever heard on here or irl.

They will just be called Estée Lauder in the playground. The link is too strong. Try Esther and you can make Estee the nickname.

Leeds!

Would it become Es-teh in the Leeds accent maybe? You need to ask yourself if you like it said that way.

I had to do this with my dcs. I loved the name James but didn't like Jaaaayyyyyymes which is how it sounds where I live. I also loved Cormac (I am Irish) but didn't like Caw-mack.

I like it!