Esmee or Esmay? WWYD

[Fable]

If you wanted the name pronouced Esmay would you

1. Use Esmee
2. Use Esmee with an accent
3. Use Esmay

DD1 is Esmé - pronounced Esmay .

The accent makes the e an ay sound ( as in café). That's how I explain it to people who mispronounce it.

As someone already said ,Esmé is the male version , Esmée the female .

A friend of ours has a french wife and she automatically spelled it Esmée .

We decided against using the double ee because we thought people would then want to pronounce the name Es- mee IYKWIM ?

We use the accent but it's not a big deal to us if people don't .

I used to get really annoyed when people got it wrong - after 4 years I'm less fussed . It is still a really great name .

Esme

most people use esme no accent - i know 3 under 3

Esmée (female) and Esmé (male)

is like

Renée (female) and René (male)

So I would spell a girls' version Esmee, with or without the accent.

what shoobidoo said.

I truly love Esmee. It's on my shortlist (but not DHs sadly).

I wouldn't get overfussed about accent use. Tis tricky in this country as they aren't in common usage and people will get confused about it. Difficult to find on a computer, people forget which way to point them etc.

Would strenuously avoid Esmay. Horribly made up and has a bit of a 'Chardonnay' twang to it. Sorry. Also - isn't there a cosmetic brand called something similar?

It's a well known enough name that most people should get it right and if they don't a little correction shouldn't cause offence. I have an Italian name with a 'c' pronounced 'ch' which foxes a few people, but most get it once I have explained it. DD has a Spanish name which occasionally throws people, but you just have to repeat it and most people get it.

For a girl definately ESMEE, ideally with an accent.

Esmay is easier to pronounce but looks made up and Esme is a boys' name.

There is no difinitive answer is there? Everybody has different ideas

I have an Esme (with an accent) ~ prononunced Esmay but we decided not to spell it like that as it really looks 'made up' and I personally feels takes away the charm of the name..I see that alot of people have mentioned this is the male form but didn't know this at the time but alot of people when we were uming and aring about the spelling thought esmee was EZ~MEE and wanted to avoid that if poss!! Don't think I've had any problems and most people for example at parties if they ask what esmes name is they spell it they way we have ~without promting! ..

Both Esmee and Esmay look "made up" to me. I've only ever come across Esme, and only ever used for a girl, although it's like Hilary and both male/female. Clearly Esmée is as correct as Esmé but I'd just go for Esme (with or without accent). I guess I would assume the pronunciation had a strong e at the end, but it's no big deal to say "ay" at the end, and if you add the accent then that's a clue that you might want to think about how to say it. My name often gets mispronounced - it's no big deal.

Esme with an accent. There was a little girl at the hospital with it spelt Esmae and I thought it looked horrible.

I know an Esmay - he's a twenty something afro-carribbean gorgeous bloke

(Even though I personally think for a girl it should be Esmée and pronounced Es - mee)

My bump is due to be an Esme (EsME) if a girl. I hadn't realised it was getting very popular as it didn't hit top 10 last year.

I googled it, and Wikipedia came up with a list of Esmes, several of which were blokes!

I have never yet taught an Esme, which is part of the attraction. Mind you, when I returned form last maternity leave I found two girls with dd's name had landed in school when I thought we had none. Teaching ruins 99% of potential baby names!

As others have said,

Esmé is the male form
Esmée the female form

This is similar to a name like Rene/Renee. I would use the accent if you can (don't know if UK passports allow accents), because it avoids any confusion as to how to pronounce it.

If you use no accent, people will either say Es-mee (nice imo) or Es-may (horrid to my ears) and you'll have to correct them.

Esmee sounds lovely, but not keen on Es-may at all...

Also agree that Esmee looks more feminine than Esme.

We have an Esme (pronounced Es-mee). It is how I have always thought it was spelled and pronounced, have only ever heard of other Es-mees. Some people occassionally call her Es-may which I don't really like but it's no big deal imo. If you want Es-may I would go for the accent.

esmae?

Esme with an accent

I'd use Esme without the accent.
If I saw that I'd assume it was pronounced Esmay.. have never heard it said Esmee

Esmee (with or without accent) for a girl!

I love love love the name Esmay. I prefer this spelling overall. It’s a beautiful girls name.

My cousin is Esmè pronounced Es-May

I know a few with different spellings All are pronounced es-May though, I don’t think the spelling matters, I’d say all the same way.

Use Esmee with an accent.
Esme is a boy's name (or was)
Esmay looks a bit hmm.

As previous poster said, Esme (with accent) was originally used as a first name by a Scottish-French man, one of the very close friends of King James VI/I. It's a French-language adjective meaning 'esteemed' (which is the English-language version of the same word).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esm%C3%A9_Stewart,_1st_Duke_of_Lennox

French adjectives have male or female endings, depending on what they are describing. As another poster said, for a girl, the adjective 'esteemed' would be Esmee, with an acute accent on the second 'e'. The extra e does not change the pronounciation, however.

Male and female versions Esme/Esmee (with accents) are pronounced the same, Ess-meh (ending as in 'cafe,' as previous poster said).

As a name it's a bit like 'Bonnie' - a descriptive word used as a name.