Esmé

I had no idea this was a unisex name! (Rather, that Esmé was masculine and Esmée was feminine.) It’s always had a bit of a short sound to me, but very calm, gentle, and elegant, so I can’t dislike it. While it’s definitely great on girls, I hope people use it for boys more in the future, it has a lovely gentle strength to it :)

This is very pretty as a spelling as well as Esme, but I prefer the more feminine Esmée.

My birth father was French Canadian and my 8th-great grandfather who never left France and married in 1644, was an Esmé. Probably pronounced ey-May, without pronouncing the s, silent letters being so common in French pronunciation. My birth father, by the way, was a René. As an American I probably would not name a boy by either, sort of like "a boy named Sue". If a girl, I'd probably just use Amy. Fewer issues, as cited below.

The correct feminine form of this French name is Esmée. Just like Renée is the feminine form and not René.

Esmé looks better than Esme.

Adorable!

I've known 2 Esmes from school (I'm currently 17) but it's more common in the UK. I like this name and I never knew it was also a character from Twilight. I think just because a name was used in some fiction you don't like, it doesn't mean the name is inherently ruined.

Super dorky name for a man. I know someone working at a (french) grocery store called Esme. I hear it with a lisp. Maybe passable as short for Esmerelda for a girl, I don't know, but I would not choose it for my baby, girl or boy. So short but somehow so complicated to pronounce.

Hi my name is Esme and it is alright when people pronounce my name (es-mee) but the real way that my family says it is like (ez-may) and people say we got it from Twilight and we actually didn’t. People have said in different websites that the name Esme is not a nice name or they said if you pronounced it like (ez-mee) then it isn’t a really nice name anymore but I have never in my life heard people say mean things about what they think about the name because it just crushes my heart and my soul.

My name is Esmé, pronounced eS-mAY, and yea, I'm a girl. I've seen a lot of people mentioning Twilight and how they don't want to name a kid after a Twilight character. I live in America, and I don't really have that problem. My biggest issue is pronunciation, since most people pronounce my name eZ-mAY. As for popularity, I've never met another Esmé my entire life, nor have I heard any of the "My aunt/cousin/friend/other relative was named Esmé" kind of thing. I personally like my name. It's unique, it sounds pretty to me, and a lot of people will compliment me about it, since most people haven't heard it before.

I recently heard this name and I fell in love with it. I like it as Esmé but my husband thought we could maybe spell it Ezmé for our son. I am trying to decide what is better because he might prefer spelling his name the normal way, but using a z might be more masculine and easier to pronounce in Spanish. Would Esmé Meza be better or Ezmé Meza?

My cousin decided to name her little girl Esme... because it sounds "cute". I personally think it sounds a bit too cutesy. I can't really picture a 40-year-old named Esme. We're not even French, so I don't get the reasoning behind her choice... but for now, it's an adorable name for her 24-month-year-old.

I like Esme, but prefer Esmee, and the pronunciation Ez-May.

We named our daughter Esme because we loved the look and sound of it. We pronounce it Ez-may. We were very aware of the feminine French version, but chose to spell it like the book For Esme-With Love and Squalor, and Other Stories: by J.D. Salinger. If she travels to France someday like I hope she will, I will educate her on the spelling of her name there and she can choose to spell it the French way when she is over there to avoid confusion... but in America she will be Esme!

---

I get many compliments on how beautiful a name Esme is. We are happy to have named her such a strong and feminine name.

I named my daughter Esme Anais but regret it very much. She's nearly 7 now and in England when I named her it wasn't even in the top 100. I hadn't seen Twilight so didn't copy the film, I just liked the name. I wanted to call my daughter Anais but due to family preferring Esme I went with it. The name is cute but I am hearing it all the time now and hate calling it out in public in case another child turns around. It's in the top 50 names in the UK now so it's even less rare. I'm at the point where often I call her Anais especially when I go somewhere no one knows us. She loves Anais too so I think she'll use it when she's old enough to decide. I don't understand why people keep using a name if they know it's growing in popularity, it takes away the uniqueness and rarity. Please stop following crowds women when naming your children, it irritates those who found a somewhat classic rare name to a common across the broad name! I even heard it on Jeremy Kyle! So upsetting.

My name is Esme with the accent but people pronounce it wrong and say it as it's spelt but it's read out like Esmay. I would prefer to be called Esmee with the accent but I don't mind. I only know one Esme and it isn't said like mine. It's very rare and I like rare names and I'm proud of it. I'm not fond of Esmerealda, I think it's a very old fashion name.

Could be the next generation's Amy.

My youngest daughter is called Esme (we pronounce it Ez-may) and it is so great to hear people with the name who really like it. I hope she will.

This name is stunning. I love how it sounds and how it looks. It is completely feminen and attractive. It is just fabulous.

This is the name of my nine year old daughter. I love it, but be prepared for a lot of "oooh, like in Twilight?" (gag) and constantly correcting people's pronunciations (long "a" sound at the end NOT long "e"). It seems to be gaining popularity, which is kind of a shame. I speak French but (GASP!) deliberately chose the male spelling because I preferred the look of it. I usually write it without the accent acute since we do not live in a French speaking country :-P. I wouldn't be concerned with the pedants who complain about the male/female endings because, though the name is of French origin, it has never been popular there and it developed it's legs overseas (Scotland, England, The Netherlands) making it more of an international name.

Yawn. This name is ugly. It sounds ugly on a girl, but incredibly pathetic and wimpy on a boy.

HIGHLY overrated. I don't see the beauty in it. Sorry.

I love this name very much. Just the sound of it is very motherly and caring. Also the name of one of my favorite characters in the Twilight saga.

I love this name. I only heard of it after Esme Denters the singer and I never liked it because of Twilight, I haven't even read it :) and you could always call her Ezzie for short. :)

Boring and overrated. It is a masculine name, not a feminine one, but it sounds so wimpy. It's also been ruined by Twilight.

I completely agree with the person who said that the correct French spelling - Esmée - should be used for girls. Not only is Esmé masculine, it isn't as pretty as the proper feminine version.

Very nice and sophisticated-sounding, though can still be cutesy. Twilight didn't ruin this name, thankfully, as Esme Cullen didn't do ANYTHING in the books, supporting Twilight's sexism. Hopefully no one links this to Renesmee, though, which is a horrendous name and character.

This is a masculine name? It does not sound like it at all!

I very much love this name. I just got a bichon recently and named her Esme. Such an elegant and beautiful name.

I love the name Esme. It's been growing on me lately, and I was shocked to meet one the other day. It's seems my favorite names, Cecilia, Ada and Esme are all gaining popularity. Oh, and to the person who made the "stupid Americans" comment, well we Americans hate those people too. I'm glad to see that stereotyping is saving you so much time though.

Why does everyone think this is such a girly name? Just cause some stupid Americans gave their girl this name because they thought it sounded more feminine DOESN'T make it a female name! gosh! -.-

The perfect sophisticated-yet-cutesy name. Easy to picture as a 2-year-old playing dress-up or an 18-year-old getting her diploma. Love it pronounced EZ-may. Definitely in my top 20. Pair it with D'Arcy or Juliette and you have a beautiful name for your little sugarplum!

I never considered this a masculine name and think it sounds kinda weird. This name is so beautiful for a girl and it isn't popular or coming into fashion, which scores big points with me. I've never even heard of anyone named Esme out of the Twilight books.

I personally like this this name even though I associate it with anything, sorta ´´high class``. I always thought it was better for a girl.

Esme is a way hotter name on a dude than on a chick.

I like the name Esme a lot. Very uncommon. I like uncommon names. I once knew someone named Imay (pronounced IS mee), but I like the name/spelling of Esme a lot more.

Even though she was an evil woman in Lemony Snicket, Esme still is a pretty name.

My name is Esme! It is pronounced EZ-ME. I love my name, it's rare you meet anyone else with it. :)