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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Girl's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady

EstherIn Hebrew: אסתר · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: אֶסְתֵּרRomanization: estér

Esther (Hebrew: אסתר) is a girl's name of biblical origin. 59,476 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 1,022 girls and ranked #7. Its peak year was 1951, with 1,602 babies.

People in Israel
59,476
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
1,022
rank #7
Peak year
1951
1,602 babies
USA, 2025
2,277
rank #119

Writing and saying Esther

In Hebrew letters the name is אסתר, read right to left. Esther is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "estér" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • Esther (a book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh)
  • Esther (the heroine of the Book of Esther)
  • a female given name, equivalent to English Esther
Said to be borrowed from Old Persian 𐎠𐎿𐎫𐎼 (sitareh, “star”), from Proto-Iranian *Hstā́ (“star”), or Akkadian Ištar (“Ishtar”).

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

Esther by year: Israel and abroad

How many girls out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

Esther: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Esther in English-speaking countries

Esther in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States20252,277#1191918 (6,574)
United Kingdom2025358#1542017 (395)
England and Wales2025333#1502017 (380)
Scotland202519#2041975 (24)
Northern Ireland20256#2592011 (11)
Ireland202521#2111965 (64)
British Columbia202313#2401960 (29)
Alberta202531#1242024 (31)
Quebec202532#1792015 (49)

Counts for girls. The Hebrew page for Esther has every year and the other spellings.

Related Israeli names

Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.

Questions about Esther

How do you write Esther in Hebrew?

Esther is written אסתר in Hebrew (with vowel points: אֶסְתֵּר). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "estér".

How many people in Israel are named Esther?

59,476 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name אסתר: 59,464 women and 12 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

Is Esther a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a girl's name: 100.0% of the people named אסתר are women.

What does the name Esther mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "Esther (a book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh)" Etymology: Said to be borrowed from Old Persian 𐎠𐎿𐎫𐎼 (sitareh, “star”), from Proto-Iranian *Hstā́ (“star”), or Akkadian Ištar (“Ishtar”).

Is Esther used outside Israel?

The name Esther appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 2,277 girls were given it in 2025 (#119), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 358 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.