Esther

Where Esther comes from

From Ancient Greek Ἐσθήρ (Esthḗr), from Biblical Hebrew אֶסְתֵּר (ʾestēr). Has been connected to Old Persian 𐎠𐎿𐎫𐎼 (a-s-t-r /⁠star-⁠/, “star”) (whence Middle Persian 𐭮𐭲𐭫 (stl /⁠star⁠/, “star”), 𐭮𐭲𐭠𐭫𐭪 (stʾlk /⁠stārag⁠/, “star”), Persian ستاره (sitāra /setâre, “star”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (if so, a distant doublet of star); or else to Akkadian 𒀭𒈹 (Ištar, “Ishtar”) (Hebrew עִשְׁתָּר (ʿištār)).
— Wiktionary's entry for Esther
  • Persian
  • 2 syllables
Esther through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #104 among girls, with 198 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1896
    Peak, #27
    1,964 babies named Esther, its best rank.
  3. 1921
    Esther Williams born
    American swimmer, actress and singer
  4. 1965
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #280.
  5. 1972
    Esther Duflo born
    French-American economist
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Persian.
Namesakes
  • Esther Duflo · French-American economist, born 1972
  • Esther Williams · American swimmer, actress and singer, 1921–2013
  • Esther Brand · South African former athlete, 1922–2015

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.