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
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #104 among girls — 198 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1896
    Peak, #27
    1,964 babies named Esther — more than any year before or since.
  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.