Esther (given name)
Esther (Hebrew: אֶסְתֵּר) is a female given name known from the Jewish queen Esther, eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther.
The Biblical Queen Esther depicted in a portrait by John Everett Millais. | |
Gender | Female |
---|---|
Origin | |
Word/name | Persian |
Meaning | "star" |
According to the Hebrew Bible, queen Esther was born with the name הֲדַסָּה Hadassah ("Myrtle"). Her name was changed to Esther to hide her identity upon becoming queen of Persia. The three letter root of Esther in Hebrew is s-t-r (סתר), "hide, conceal". The passive infinitive is (לְהִסָּ֫תֶר), "to be hidden" [1].
The name can be derived from the Old Persian stāra (NPer. ستاره setāra, meaning "star") although some scholars identify Esther with the name of the Babylonian goddess of love Ishtar.
History of usage
Esther first occurs as a given name in Europe and the British Isles at the time of the Reformation prior to which the occurrence of Biblical names – unless borne by saints – was unusual.[2] The modified form Hester has seemingly co-existed with the original Esther throughout the name's usage in the English-speaking world, where despite a theoretic slight pronunciative difference Esther and Hester were long largely – perhaps totally – interchangeable, with it being routine for a woman cited as Esther in one document to be elsewhere documented as Hester. One specific example of this is Esther Johnson, the "Stella" of Jonathan Swift, whose baptismal record identifies her as Hester but who always signed herself Esther.[3] Similarly Swift wrote letters to his "Vanessa": Esther Vanhomrigh, in which Swift sometimes wrote her first name in the respective address as Esther and sometimes as Hester.[4] The commonality usage of Esther and Hester had essentially been phased out by 1900 [5] with Esther retaining a high usage profile especially in North America whereas the usage of Hester has shown a progressive decline.
The 9 September 1893 birth of Esther Cleveland, daughter of US president Grover Cleveland, was heavily publicized as the first birth of a presidential child in the White House with the press announcements of her name stating it meant "star". The 1891 birth of Cleveland's first daughter, also Biblically named being christened Ruth, had caused a media sensation and boosted Ruth into the Top Ten of American girl's names,[6] and while the public endorsement of Esther as the choice of name for Cleveland's second daughter was more muted the name Esther did reach its all-time zenith of US popularity soon after Esther Cleveland's 1893 birth, Esther being ranked as the #27 most popular name for American girls for the year 1896.[7]
The sixth most popular name bestowed on Caucasian baby girls born in New York City in 2006,[8] Esther has remained a favored name in some Jewish communities.
International variants
Alternate forms of Esther are:
- Eistir (Irish)
- Eseza (Luganda)
- Essi (Finnish)
- Essie (English)
- Essy (Australia)
- Esta (English)
- Estée (French)
- Ester (Catalan), (Czech), (Finnish), (Italian), (Portuguese), (North Germanic languages), (Spanish), (Persian)
- Estera (Polish), (Slovak), (Romanian), (Lithuanian)
- Esteri (Finnish)
- Eszter (Hungarian)
- Eszti (Hungarian)
- Ettie (English)
- Etty (English)
- Hester (English)
- Hettie (English)
- Inana (Sumerian)
- أَسْتِير (ʾAstīr) Arabic
- אֶסְתֵּר (Esther), the Hebrew and Israeli version of the name. Also Esti and Eti.
- ستاره (Setare) (Persian)
- Јестира (Jestira) (Serbian)
- Эсфирь (Esfir') (Russian)
As a given name
- Esther Abrahams
- Esther Afua Ocloo
- Esther Aghatise
- Esther Saville Allen
- Esther Anderson
- Esther E. Baldwin
- Esther Baxter
- Esther Béjarano
- Esther Bell
- Esther Benbassa
- Esther de Berdt
- Esther Blake
- Esther Boise van Deman
- Esther Brand
- Esther Brandeau
- Esther Brann
- Esther Brimmer
- Esther Bubley
- Esther Cailingold
- Esther Cañadas
- Esther Cardoso
- Esther Clark Wright
- Esther Clayson
- Esther Cleveland
- Esther Dankwah
- Esther David
- Esther Dean
- Esther Deans
- Esther Deason Shield
- Esther Delisle
- Esther Duflo
- Esther Dyson
- Esther Earl, after whom Esther Day was named
- Esther Edwards
- Esther Erlich
- Esther Farbstein
- Esther Fernández
- Esther Ferrer
- Esther Fischer-Homberger
- Esther Forbes
- Esther Freud
- Esther Friesner
- Esther Geller
- Esti Ginzberg
- Esther Golar
- Esther Goris
- Esther Gough
- Esther Haase
- Esther Hahn
- Esther Hall
- Esther Handali
- Esther Hart
- Esther Hasson
- Esther Hautzig
- Esther Hayes
- Esther Hermitte
- Esther Hicks
- Esther Hillman House
- Esther Hobart Morris
- Esther Hodge
- Esther Studholme Hope
- Esther Housh
- Esther Howard
- Esther Howland
- Esther Hunt
- Esther Inglis
- Esther James
- Esther Jensen
- Esther John
- Esther Johnson
- Esther Jones
- Esther Jungreis
- Esther Kamatari
- Esther Kellner
- Esther Kenworthy Waterhouse
- Esther Kia'aina
- Esther Koplowitz
- Esther Kreitman
- Esther Ku
- Esther Kwan
- Esther Lachmann
- Esther Lederberg
- Esther Lekain
- Esther Levine
- Esther Liu
- Esther Marly Conwell
- Esther Margolis
- Esther Maria Lewis Chapin
- Esther Martinez
- Esther McCoy
- Esther McCracken
- Esther McQueen
- Esther McVey
- Esther Muir
- Esther Murugi Mathenge
- Esther Newberg
- Esther Newton
- Esther Nisenthal Krinitz
- Esther Ofarim
- Esther Oosterbeek
- Esther Orozco
- Esther Ouwehand
- Esther Peterson
- Esther Phillips
- Esther Pohl Lovejoy
- Esther D. du Pont
- Esther Tuttle Pritchard
- Esther Pugh
- Esther Rabba
- Esther Rahim
- Esther Ralston
- Esther Rantzen
- Esther Raziel Naor
- Esther Rochon
- Esther Rolle
- Esther Rome
- Esther Roper
- Esther Rose
- Esther Roth Shahamorov
- Esther Sandoval
- Esther Schipper, German art dealer
- Esther Schweins
- Esther Scott
- Esther Shimazu
- Esther Shiner
- Esther Short Park
- Esther Snyder
- Esther Somerfeld-Ziskind
- Esther Sumner Damon
- Esther Szekeres-Klein
- Esther Termens
- Esther Valentine
- Esther Vanhomrigh
- Esther Vergeer
- Esther Vilar
- Esther Vilenska
- Esther Walker
- Esther Wanjiru
- Esther Waters
- Esther Wertheimer
- Esther Wheelwright
- Esther Williams
- Esther Wojcicki
- Esther Wong
Middle name
- Thomas Brinkmann, born as Ester Brinkmann
- Mabel Esther Allan
- Maria Ester Audion Bueno
- Marie-Louise Ekman, born as Marie-Louise Ester Maude Ekman
- Silvia Gallego, born as Silvia Ester Gallego de Soto
- Silvia Giusti, born as Silvia Ester Giusti
- Elba Esther Gordillo
- Mary Esther Harding
- María Esther Herranz García
- Queen Esther Marrow
- Alicia Mastandrea, born as Alicia Ester Mastandrea
- Marta Ester Rocafort-Altazarra
- María Ester Varela de Marín, spouse of Rubén Marín
- Fylgia Zadig, born as Fylgia Ester Zadig
Derivative name
Aster
- Aster Aweke
- Aster Ganno
- Aster Phoenix
- Aster Yohannes
Essie
- Essie Coffey
- Essie Davis
- Essie Garrett
- Essie Jain
- Essie Mae Washington
- Essie Summers
Esta
Ester
- Ester Andujar
- Ester Aparecida dos Santos
- Ester Balassini
- Ester Blenda Nordström
- Ester Böserup
- Elisa Colberg, known as Ester Colberg
- Ester Cordet
- Ester Drang
- Ester Fanous
- Ester Hernandez
- Ester Ledecká
- Ester Mägi
- Ester Peony
- Ester Salomon, known as Lovisa Augusti
- Ester H. Segal
- Ester Toivonen
- Duo Vela, born as Ester Vela
- Ester Wier
- Ester Workel
Other derivations
- Esterina Tartman
- Esterio Segura Mora
- Esfir Shub
- Estée Lauder (person)
- Estelle (given name)
- Eszter, a given name
- Etty, Etti, and Ettie, given names
- Hester, a given name and surname
- Hetty (disambiguation)
As a surname
See also
- Esther (disambiguation)
- Queen Esther (disambiguation)
Notes
- Brown, Francis (2012). The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Boston MA: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. ISBN 978-1-56563-206-6.
- Behind the Name
- Damrosch, Leo (2014). Jonathan Swift: his life and his world. New Haven CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300205411.
- https://archive.org/stream/vanessahercorres00vanhrich/vanessahercorres00vanhrich_djvu.txt
- Palmer, Arnold E (2015). In Their Footsteps: a 500 year genealogical odyssey. ISBN 978-1-5144-2123-9.
- Algeo, Matthew (2011). The President Is a Sick Man: wherein the supposedly virtuous Grover Cleveland survives a secret surgery at sea and vilifies the courageous newspaperman who dared expose the truth. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. pp. 50, 172. ISBN 978-1-56976-350-6.
- http://www.nameplayground.com
- "New York City Health Department. "What's in a Name? Health Department Releases New York City's Most Popular Baby Names For 2006"". Archived from the original on 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2008-05-19.