Girl · Persian, through Hebrew
Esther
Say it: ES-ter
Meaning
Uncertain. Usually derived from Persian stāra 'star' or from the name of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar; her Hebrew name in the book is Hadassah 'myrtle'.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Used by Jewish families since antiquity and by English Protestants from the 16th century, often in the form Hester.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1890s
In the United States
- 261,533 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1897, about 1 in 123 girls
- 1,792 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Ester, Hester
| French | Esther |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Ester |
| Italian | Ester |
| Portuguese | Ester |
| German | Ester |
| Hungarian | Eszter |
| Hebrew | Ester |
Famous bearers
- Esther, queen in the Book of Esther
- Esther Forbes, American historical novelist
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Puritan church and town records of England and New England
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- Colonial records of the Americas
- National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.