Hester

Meaning: Its source is Ester, a Hebrew name meaning "The myrtle tree or star."

Languages: This girl's name is used in Dutch and English.

Nicknames: Hassie, Hettie and Hetty

Variant Forms: Hesther

Popularity: The name Hester ranked 938th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

Narrative: The scriptural Book of Esther is set in ancient Persia. In it, a Jewish girl called Hadassah at birth is re-named Esther, possibly to hide her heritage. As she grows up, her beauty and winning ways attract the Persian king, who names her his queen. She learns of the minister Haman's intention to slaughter her people, and successfully intervenes on their behalf at great personal risk. Jews celebrate the festival of Purim in memory of her.

Some believe Esther derives from the Persian stara (star), or from the name of the Persian goddess of love, Ishtar. Others maintain that it was simply a translation of the scripturally related name Hadassah (myrtle).

The myrtle tree was sacred to Ishtar, and also to the Greek and Roman love goddesses.

Stage and Screen

Hester Sue Terhune
- Portrayed by Ketty Lester (see list of Characters on ''Little House on the Prairie'')

The Literary World

Hester Cary
Fictional character.
- Character in Many Thousands Gone by John Peale Bishop (see list of Characters in Literature of the American South)
Hester Lynch Piozzi (born 1740, died 1821)
English writer.
- Wrote Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., during the last Twenty Years of his Life (see list of Writers of the Restoration and 18th Century)
Hester Prynne
Fictional character
- The branded adulteress in Nathaniel Hawthorne''s novel, The Scarlet Letter (see list of Characters from the Classics)