Ok so thanks to all of you wonderful berries DH and I have agreed on [name_f]Esme[/name_f] as dd2s first name. Now how would you spell it? Esmé or Esmée? I want it to be pronounced Ez-may/ Es-[name_f]May[/name_f] so I’m thinking I have to use an accent, right? Also we are now on the hunt for a middle name. All suggestions are welcomed! Thanks so much for your help!!!
Mns that we have come up with so far:
[name_f]Josephine[/name_f]
[name_f]Scarlet[/name_f]
[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]
[name_f]Jane[/name_f]
[name_f]Rose[/name_f]- I feel like this is a filler name
I prefer the [name_m]French[/name_m] Esmée spelling of all the options.
Of your suggested middles, I like [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] the best. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you want another [name_m]French[/name_m] sounding name? Some [name_m]French[/name_m] names that I think might work well are:
For the Es-may prn. I’d spell it [name_f]Esme[/name_f]. Since the accent is [name_m]French[/name_m] and contrary to popular American (generally English) belief, no, the é is not pronounced “may”, so spelling it Esmé and prn. it es-may would be more wrong than just spelling it [name_f]Esme[/name_f].
From your options, [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] is really beautiful, I’m not too fond of the others with [name_f]Esme[/name_f] (though they are all lovely names).
I vastly prefer the Esmé spelling to Esmée spelling. I think the extra e looks unnecessary. I know an [name_f]Esme[/name_f] who spells her name like this and goes by Ez-[name_f]May[/name_f], so without the accent works too. But, I also know an [name_f]Esme[/name_f] (spelled like this) who pronounces it Ez-me. Personally, I prefer it without the accent, but it depends on where you’re living.
My personal favourite [name_f]Esme[/name_f] combo is [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f] (or you could do [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Violette[/name_f] if you wanted it a bit more french). I think [name_f]Violet[/name_f]/te works so well with [name_f]Esme[/name_f], but I can’t say why exactly. It just fits perfectly for me. It lightens [name_f]Esme[/name_f] just a little, makes it a bit more nature-y, but keeps her feet planted firmly on the ground.
Out of your MN options, I like [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] best with [name_f]Esme[/name_f]. I find [name_f]Jane[/name_f] & [name_f]Rose[/name_f] both too short next to [name_f]Esme[/name_f], I find [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Scarlet[/name_f] very S heavy, and [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is ok, I just prefer [name_f]Esme[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f].
[name_m]Just[/name_m] spell it [name_f]Esme[/name_f]. The name is known well enough that ez-may will be the pronunciation used by people whether or not it has an accent mark. The accent mark will always just be dropped anyway and the extra e looks unnecessary. [name_f]Esme[/name_f] is a lovely name.
It’s good to know many of you suggest [name_f]Esme[/name_f] with no accent. I figured she would never write it if I used the accent. [name_f]Magnolia[/name_f] was on the list of first names… It never crossed my mind to use it as a mn. Thanks!
I don’t know if this is the case where you live, but here in the UK, the pronunciation of [name_f]Esme[/name_f] is well-known. Unless you live in a country where diacritical marks are used often, I would say that the accent is unnecessary, and is difficult to type on a standard English-language keyboard.
I live in the US. I would say [name_f]Esme[/name_f] is not a common name here (or at least in GA) so I will probably be correcting others but I don’t mind. I think once it’s corrected they will remember. I love all of your mn suggestions.