Unique Names
Two-and-a-half months in, and Emily is already regretting letting me name our baby Esmé. It’s amazing to see the different ways people pronounce it. For the record, it is pronounced S-May (The letter “S” and the month “May”). You pronounce the é like you would pronounce Beyoncé (It’s not BeyondC, right?) or Renée (like Renée Zellweger).
As for how I came up with the name, it is from J.D. Salinger’s short story “For Esmé – with Love and Squalor“, which was originally published in The New Yorker on April 18, 1950. I discovered it while reading Nine Stories, way back in high school. Ever since then, I thought Esmé was/is a lovely and unique name for a girl. Plus ”For Esmé …” is my favorite Salinger short story.
At least we weren’t like this couple and named our baby after a symbol.
