Hello!
What do you thank of the name [name_f]Ismay[/name_f]?
Does it look like a creative spelling of [name_f]Esme[/name_f]/Esmée?
Can I spell it Ismée instead of [name_f]Ismay[/name_f]? (I’m [name_m]French[/name_m] and I believe people would mispronounce [name_f]Ismay[/name_f] in [name_f]France[/name_f]. But I guess Americans would also mispronounce Ismée, right?)
What would you pair it with?
Thank you!
I love [name_f]Ismay[/name_f]! It’s an underused name with history and the sweetest sound.
I don’t think it looks like a misspelling of [name_f]Esme[/name_f], though some people could make that connection. However I think that the Ismée spelling makes it look like one, since it’s only one letter away from Esmée.
Not sure what kind of names you’re into. The combo I /personally/ would make is [name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Theodora[/name_f] or [name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Delilah[/name_f]. I like it with something longer and think it sounds good with names ending in -a.
I prefer Ismée to [name_f]Ismay[/name_f]. I think the pronunciation you want is the most intuitive. While I think you may have to occasionally correct ppl, I don’t think it would be a very laborious correction (people mispronounce my oldest daughter’s name, [name_f]Brynn[/name_f], but it’s a quick correction. My main point is you can’t idiot-proof your names. People will somehow call [name_f]Jane[/name_f] “[name_u]Jan[/name_u]”.)
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] doesn’t look as pretty or namey to me–just like dismay without the d, so it looks incomplete.
Oh and I’m an American. Not sure if any other Americans agree with me lol.
Thank you Emmievis!
I’m curious, what history are you talking about?
Do you think native English speakers would know how to pronounce Ismée?
I love Ismay Theodora and Ismay Delilah! Great ideas. I was also thinking about Ismay Marlowe, Ismay Sage and Ismay Aurora.
Thank you very much Primbutcher! Brynn is easy to pronounce in my opinion. It’s a beautiful name!
I really like [name_f]Ismay[/name_f] and Ismée is pretty too! Id assume it was pronoucned like [name_f]Esme[/name_f]/Esmée with an I rather than an iz sound rather than as Ez one.
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Delilah[/name_f], [name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] And [name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Theodora[/name_f] are great!!
For combos, I’ll suggest
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Tallulah[/name_f]
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Adele[/name_f]
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Francesca[/name_f]
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Viola[/name_f]
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Pearl[/name_f]
Oh, I was talking about how on nameberry it says it’s a name that was used even centuries ago. So it’s not a modern invention or anything. In my opinion, not everyone would know how to pronounce Ismée at first glance, but correcting people isn’t that hard. I personally would avoid using letters with accents in an English speaking country though.
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] is beautiful! The other two have too many repeating sounds for me.
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] is a really sweet name! The spelling [name_f]Ismay[/name_f] makes more sense in an English-speaking country, especially since accents will get dropped off a lot of the time. Ismée might make more sense in a [name_m]French[/name_m]-speaking country, but I’m not quite sure about that.
Thank you for your answers!
We currently live in [name_f]France[/name_f] and my family is [name_m]French[/name_m]. That’s why I wanted Ismée with this spelling. I’m scared that people would not know how to pronounce [name_f]Ismay[/name_f], and that they might think it’s a creative spelling, which I hate. But my husband and his family are American. We would like to move back to the US in a few years, but we don’t know how long we would stay (can be 2 years, 8 years or 30 years, who knows?).
If we officially spell it Ismée, and notice later that [name_f]Ismay[/name_f] would be more convenient, can we just spell it [name_f]Ismay[/name_f] for school, etc? I don’t want to change it officially, but just to make her life easier.
Thank you!
I would spell it Ismée. It’s very pretty and sweet! Spelled “[name_f]Ismay[/name_f]” it’s but one letter from “dismay” which isn’t a great connotation imo.
In terms of your worries about pronunciation in the States, I wouldn’t be too concerned personally. I have a strangely spelled name since I came from a majority non-English country, it also has an “é”. While many wildly mispronounce it when reading, it’s always just taken a simple correction and they never mispronounce it again. Especially knowing you are [name_m]French[/name_m] (and so would your daughter be) I’m sure people would not assume it was “yooneekly spelled”, they would assume it’s exotic! People often love the way my name is spelled even though it’s not the conventional spelling of it because I’m foreign and they assume it’s [name_m]French[/name_m] (which it isn’t).
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] is a great choice!