You guys have been so helpful but I have one last question for you.
[name_f]Esme[/name_f] or Esmée? Would you pronounce them differently? Which do you think would be easiest to live with or is it just going to be a pain?
We live in the UK so a lot of people recognise [name_f]Esme[/name_f] as Ez-Me. From what I’ve read online Esmée is the original feminine spelling, pronounced Ez-[name_f]May[/name_f]. I’ve seen it’s like [name_u]Ren[/name_u]é and [name_u]Ren[/name_u]ée and the é creates the -ay (like café) sound. We prefer the Ez-[name_f]May[/name_f] pronunciation and think it also flows best with our chosen middle name, [name_f]Violet[/name_f] (honour name)
I’m so torn on this name. I love the combination and my husband is leaning towards it most on our list but I don’t want it to be a pain for her to live with. I wish we could use [name_f]Esmeralda[/name_f], nickname [name_f]Esme[/name_f] but we have an [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] so the two would be cheesy together.
We also have [name_f]Cecily[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f], [name_f]Cecilia[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f], [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f], [name_f]Violet[/name_f] [name_f]Esme[/name_f]/Esmée, [name_f]Violet[/name_f] [name_f]Mabel[/name_f] and [name_f]Violet[/name_f] [name_f]Felicity[/name_f] on our list.
I prefer Esmée. I would pronounce [name_f]Esme[/name_f] like it’s spelled and Esmée like Ez-may. Esmée is easier to pronounce and more pleasant.
Esmée [name_f]Violet[/name_f] is a nice combo, but I think [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f] is prettier and that it works perfectly with [name_f]Aurora[/name_f].
I like them both and would pronounce both the same way (ez-may).
I’m not sure what the laws are in the UK but I know in the US, only certain states allow accent marks to be included on the birth certificate meaning Esmée could easily become [name_f]Esmee[/name_f] on official documents, and I think [name_f]Esmee[/name_f] is far more likely to get “ez-mee” than [name_f]Esme[/name_f] is. Again though, I’m not sure if that would be an issue where you live!
Accent mark dilemmas aside, I prefer [name_f]Esme[/name_f].
I live in the UK and I would pronounce them both EZ-may. I’ve never actually come across the EZ-mee pronunciation.
I prefer the look of Esmée myself, but Esmé/[name_f]Esme[/name_f] is a lot more popular (it ranked at #38 last year in [name_f]England[/name_f] and [name_m]Wales[/name_m]) so I can see it causing less spelling issues. There’s also the spelling [name_f]Esmae[/name_f] which makes the pronunciation a bit more clear.
There seems to be some confusion as it where it originated from. I’ve seen Esmé is [name_m]French[/name_m], masculine and Esmée is [name_m]French[/name_m], feminine but I’ve seen that disputed too. It’d be easier to decide if I could find some strength behind it’s origins lol.
I wonder if [name_f]Esme[/name_f] would be easier to live with. I do prefer the combo as [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f] rather than [name_f]Violet[/name_f] [name_f]Esme[/name_f].
[name_f]Esme[/name_f] is definitely the cleaner, simpler spelling but I would pn this Ez-mee (I’m in the UK too.) You are correct that the é makes the ‘ay’ sound. I personally think the accent would probably get dropped, I know an Amélie and a Chloé and I’m never really sure whether the accent is actually part of their name or if they’ve just added it in to be fancy.
[name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f] is a lovely combo though.