Esme

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

How do you all pronounce Esme? My husband and I love it for a middle name for our next daughter, or possible first name for hypothetical daughter after that. As he said, being the ones who write it and say it, we have the prerogative of deciding how to pronounce it, but I'd like to know if we're at least close. I prefer correct pronunciations, but I like the way we say it now: Ehz-mee. Also, I've seen it with an accent on the 'e'-- does that change the pronunciation and is it aigu or grave? Can you even use accent grave on the final letter of a word? Speaking of accents, if a name sometimes has a written accent it's mother language-- like Renee or Esme do you want to use it if your primary languages is English or of you not think accents should be used since we don't use written accents in English?

For sibsetness, our first daughter's name was [Brenna Rose][Sherman][Brown-Hand]. (she's deceased, so her name won't actually be said much)
Hypothetical future boy(s) will most likely be Jonah Edward and/or David Christopher. Maybe, less likely, Patrick Anthony or Anthony Patrick.

<3

Comments

[ifancylust.livejournal.com]

ess-may or ez-may. i always see it with an accent on the "e", which would make the ending sound more like "ay" rather than "ee"

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

If you saw it without the accent what would you think? Would you pronounce i differently? I've seen it both ways, but only ever heard it the way I'm pronouncing it.

Thanks!

[ifancylust.livejournal.com]

i'd still pronounce is with the "ay" ending. a lot of people are named renee and they don't use the accent. i still call them ruh-NAY, not ree-nee.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Okay, thanks.


Oh, an I looked at some baby name sites on line. They seem to distinguish between Esme without an accent and Esme/Esmee with an accent, so I'm feeling better about my pronunciation. I'm thinking it's akin to the difference between Renee which in French would be accented and Rene which is not accented in French, if that makes sense. I've met both accented and unaccented Renees. guess it just depends on parental preference.

Thanks for you opinions! :)

[lovetokate.livejournal.com]

When I see it, I think "Es-may."

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

[liss07.livejournal.com]

I always say it as Ehz-may but whether that's actually correct I don't know! Love the name though :D

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[lacuna.livejournal.com]

I suppose it should be ez-may, but I've only ever heard it said ez-mee (in the UK, that is).

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Yay! One vote for my way.

[sodivided.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've only heard it as ez-mee in the UK too!

[krosp.livejournal.com]

I say Es-may, and like it better that way... but I think you can get away with Es-mee as long as you don't have the accent on the e. Yes I think it does change the pronunciation, technically having the acute/aigu thing on it should make it into es-may. And yeah I can't really think of any words with a grave on the final letter but i'm no expert!

All the best... lovely name either way.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

:) I like it both ways, but my husband prefers Ez-Me and that was the first way we came up with. I do like the roundabout way of using 'May' (Es-may), though-- his paternal grandmother's name is May and we'd like to use it as a middle name but a- it's a little plain and seems like a filler and b- his cousin already used it for his daughter Eleanor Mai.. of course I would pronounce Mai 'My' but that's another story. Funny thing is, if we use May, we'd do Mae, which I don't know is technically pronounced 'May' either. :)

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

* And thank you. :)

[bloomingtulip.livejournal.com]

ez-mee is the only way i've heard it in the US. i guess with an accent it would be ez-may

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Yay, two votes for my way! :)

I was actually just looking on a baby name site and I saw Esmee, accent on first e and Esme, no accent.. so maybe it's done both ways? Both were feminine. Maybe the second is the Americanized or Anglisized version.

Thanks. :)

[kelkie.livejournal.com]

i'd pronounce it "ehz-mee," too, unless it had the accent. but i like it better your way, with no accent.

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

Yay, 3 votes! Yeah, I'm thinking the same way, no accent = my way.

Thanks!

[morphinae.livejournal.com]

I've always thought "Ehz-may" and I personally think it's prettier that way, but the other way works too. Are you totally against adding another E on the end? For me that might clear up the confusion and cause me to re-think it before I blurt out Ez-may. But that's just me :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_x_blackroses_x/]

Ez-may.

[queen-mab.livejournal.com]

I'd pronounce it Ez-mee.

Write it down on a piece of paper and ask people in your area how they'd pronounce it. :) I think it matters more how people where you live say it than how we say it, because we all come from different places.

[sparklingmama.livejournal.com]

I say "es-ME".

And, I can't help it... but I'm a comic book geek, and every TIME I hear that name, I think of the Stepford Cuckoos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepford_Cuckoos) in X-Men.

I have the same problem with Logan ;).

[sparklingmama.livejournal.com]

Oops, I means "ES-me", emphasis on the first part. I'm at work - forgive me.

[lastcastle.livejournal.com]

I say Es-may. The thing about this name is I feel like you might be able to get away with using the other pronunciation, even though it isn't the original, because in the UK this name has become really popular for girls, spelt Esme. It's really supposed to be Esmee with an accent aigu on the second E for girls, and Esme with an accent on the second E for boys, but it's never used for boys now in English-speaking countries. And really, people butcher French names a lot in English anyway (like Marie. The English pronunciation isn't the same as the correct French one. There is no accent on the second syllable, and it sounds almost the same as Mary) so I don't know that it really matters. And just in case you were curious, the scottish feminine form of Esme is Edme (also with an accent).