Hey All!
I met a little girl called Emsley (sp??) the other day. Apparently it means ‘a gift from God’. I kind of like the sound of it, and I really like the meaning!
What are your thoughts?
It’s not a personal favorite-- it sounds a little [name]Adams[/name] Family-ish to me. What about [name]Emmalyn[/name] instead?
I think it would work better as a nn for [name]Emma[/name], [name]Emily[/name] etc but it doesn’t appeal to me as a full first name at all
I agree. To my ear it sounds like an attempt an finding an alternative to the incredibly popular [name]Emily[/name] inspired by Pugsley from the Addams Family. I’m also really, really skeptical of the meaning - “ley” usually means “valley, clearing” or something along those lines. “A gift from God” sounds like a meaning that the parents liked that doesn’t have any etymological substantiation.
I posted about Emsley for a boy a while ago. I like it on a boy
It sounds like a modern bell-tone type name, I doubt it actually means ‘gift from God’. It sounds like someone took the nickname Ems for [name]Emily[/name] and did a mashup with “sley”, which is a common ending for a lot of trendy names. That’s not to say it isn’t cute, but it strikes me as a very recent invention of a name.
I actually love this on a boy.
I don’t like it. It sounds like a mash-up name (i.e. [name]Emily[/name] + [name]Paisley[/name]).
It has a pleasing enough sound but also a made up sound. -ley in English surnames traditionally means “valley” (like, at the end of the word valley, you see it), and I can think of no language where any of the syllables of Emsley means anything to do with gift from God, so I agree that is probably not a valid meaning. I have seen [name]Esme[/name] and [name]Evelyn[/name] which are vaguely similar listed as having to do with “loved/wanted”, which is kind of like “gift”, but that’s the closest.
Sounds made-up…not a fan.
Sounds made up to me too 
Personally NAF. To me it sounds like [name]Ainsley[/name] and [name]Emma[/name] mashed together.
While I like the sound, I do prefer it more for a nn. And I agree that it sounds made up. An if that is indeed the true meaning, I like it. Seeing as I could only find the meaning on 1 site, I rather doubt it, too! Much prefer [name]Emmeline[/name] (pn -lyn).
Sounds contrived…
Has anyone else noticed that many of these “newly discovered, not made-up” names almost always mean “gift from God”?
The -ley suffix means meadow/wood/field/clearing. Almost every name ending in ley is nature-related, not religious