First off, thanks everyone for your understanding and concern considering my recent absence. Things haven’t really fixed themselves, but there’s nothing I can really do about it, and I’ve come to terms with that. So, hopefully I’m back to scheduled programming.
Weird, right?
Today we’re going to talk about a name that’s been pleasing the hell out of me lately, even though it’s incredibly far removed from the kind of name I usually like: Jessamine. If you had asked me six months ago what I thought of it, I would have said it’s entirely too frou-frou and delicate for my tastes. Now, I think it’s perfectly lovely, but just not for me, in the front, anyway.
First off, let me tell you what sort of mental image Jessamine puts in my head. It’s not of jasmine, strangely enough, but of a sea creature. Kindly take a look to the left: that’s what I see when I think of Jessamine. More hot pink and sort of fluffier, but that’s a rough approximation. I have no clue why. Go ahead, run in terror from my weirdness now…I’ll wait.
Back? Okay, then, let’s talk about Jessamine’s origins, pronunciation, and all that other fun stuff. BtN, my go to source, says it’s from a spelling variant of Jasmine, and that’s it’s pronounced JESS-a-min. I’ve also seen it pronounced Jess-a-MEEN, which I think it lovely as well, and somewhat more intuitive, actually. Some other sources say that it’s from the Middle French jessemin, meaning, guess what? Jasmine. I’m not an etymologist, so I’ll leave it up to you guys. I’m more apt to believe BtN, myself, since it’s usually a little more accurate. Some nicknames include Jess/ie, Mina, Jessa, Mimi, etc, etc.
I usually play around with Jessamine in the middle, since I’m not fond of really girly names in the front. Edna Jessamine is really all I’ve got at this point, but I like it with a lot of things. Alice Jessamine, Agnes Jessamine, Bridget Jessamine. I think it does wonders to lighten up a “dowdy” name.
What do you all think of Jessamine?
Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I like Jessamine. I say jess-a min, almsot instinctively. I’d have to think to say Jess-a-meen, but it does sound lovely that way too. I tried to sell Jessamine to an aquaintance, who ended up naming her girl Jasmine. At least she spelled it right, she had been intending to spell it Jazzmin. Blah. Crisis averted, at least, even if she didn’t go with the princessy Jessamine.
So I do like it. Edna Jessamine in particular, charms me entirely. Alice & Agnes are a bit too hissy with Jessamine, for me. But Bridget Jessamine is really pretty too!
I had Lucy Jessamine together at one point and Maud Jessamine but it never went any frsther than that. And Jessamine’s always middle material for me, I dislike Jess- as a nickname. Which is it’s major downfall for me. Min, Minna & Mina would be more my style of nickname choices.
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 1:50 am
Hi. Good to have you back!
I like Jessamine. I actually just suggested it to someone yesterday as a sister for Eloise. I’ve always pronounced it JESS-uh-min. I don’t mind it up front at all — reading the Boxcar Children series with my first graders has got me thinking Jessie is pretty sweet on a girl.
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 5:51 am
I love Jessamine! And I don’t see her as just a modern spin on Jasmine. I’m blanking on why, but I think she’s got a smidge more history.
And yes, in the middle spot, she’s lovely. Great combos. I love Alice Jessamine.
Welcome back!
Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 6:17 am
When I see Jessamine, I think Jess-a-meen, and it sounds like a mixture of two different names like Jessica and Cathleen, and is very reminiscent of Jasmine.
If it were spelled without the “e” at the end (Jessamin) it doesn’t look quite as pretty, but I wouldn’t be confused about the pronunciation.
With Jess-a-min, I no long hear the couldn’t-decide-between-two-names aspect.
I have no historical knowledge about this name (or Jasmine, for that matter)