Then there’s the diacritical-marks-as-confetti phenomenon – Raven-Symone has a few in her name that have no impact on pronunciation. Or think heavy metal umaluts … they’re added for visual style, not as pronunciation guides. Add in that many of us aren’t familiar with the impact of diacritical marks, and I feel reasonably comfortable not using them. (I suspect I’m pretty average – I know what the French/Spanish/German ones indicate, but anything less common, I’m guessing. Like the å in Swedish – I know it sounds like the o in yonder because I’ve looked it up more than once, but I have to pause every time.)

As for the male/female distinction, that’s debatable, but Esme is really only known as a feminine name in 21st century English, so I wouldn’t sweat it if you can discover a 17th century Scottish male Esme. And Esme looks elegant, and reminds me of Chloe/Zoe, where we understand that the name isn’t just one-syllable, so it works. Esmee feels excessive.

But back to pronunciation – sure, you’re saying it right. But you’ll still have to repeat it, possibly more than once!