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Esme or Esmee is a girl's name to me (I prefer the spelling Esme)

I'm afraid it is noticeable to at least a segment of the population even here in the US. I mean, we know Rene is male and Renee is female, and we know Desiree and Estee and Aimee are female.

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Then again, a lot of people here have never seen the name Esme on a male, and honestly I don't think they're likely to. I met a baby girl named Esme at the park recently and although I know it's supposedly a masculine spelling, I can't say I batted an eye.

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Besides, what about Timothee and Amedee? They break the rule in French... so it's not a hard and fast gendering rule anyways.

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I prefer Esme over Esmae and Esmay any day. Changing the ending just makes it confusing and distracting.

I wouldn't immediately associate Esme as a boys name and I agree in disliking the double 'e' on Esmee. Leave it as Esme, it’s a lovely name!
Mae is cute but then I probably wouldn't nn Esme

A woman I used to work with has a little girl who's about 4 years old called Esme with this spelling. It suits her very well, she's adorable. She has an older brother named Hugh, I think they make quite a cute sibset.

If I were to use the name there wouldn't be any accent marks on it as others have put. I don't live in France or speak French. I would pronounce it EZ-mee and I think of it as a nickname for Esmeralda. It's actually what I named my car. Because I think of it as a nickname already I can't see shortening it further to just Mae or May although I think those are both lovely as names on their own or as nicknames to something else. I can't see it as masucline AT ALL, but again, this might be because I'm not French. I think Esmay looks terrible.

I can't imagine Esmé as a feminine name because of the masculine ending. Anyone who knows French probably feels the same way. IMO, it's strictly Esmé on a boy and Esmée on a girl. I agree that Esmé has a feminine quality to it, but that doesn't prevent me from seeing it as a fully masculine name.

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IMO, Esmay looks mispelled and unintellectual.

Girl! :)

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I would never in a million years name a boy Esme. It's too feminine sounding! :)

Hello, I live in England and I know a couple of girls named Esme although it is pronounced Es-mee here.
I think it is such a pretty name for a girl - I could never imagine it as a male name.

I never knew Esme was the masculine version... I guess that's because I don't think of the name as being masculine at all, really. I prefer the single 'e' spelling, because if you use the double 'e', I would probably think to pronounce it Ez-MEE...

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As far as alternate spellings, I'm not particularly fond of them. The nicknames are alright, but I like the plain Esme spelling :)

I think most people where I am at (in the US) would be more familiar with Esme for a girl, even if Esmee is technically the female version of the name. I, too, can't imagine Esme on a boy. I do like both spellings for a girl. It's a wonderful name!

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I pronounce Esme "EZ-may" (with the stress on the first syllable). I see you put the stress on the second. Am I saying it wrong?

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Finally, I would stick with either Esme or Esmee, as I don't care for made up spellings. And I adore the nickname Mae.