Hester

Medieval variation of Esther, Persian

"star"

Hester Origin and Meaning

The name Hester is a girl's name of English origin meaning "star".

The disgraced heroine of The Scarlet Letter's name, after long neglect, just might have a chance at revival, following in the wake of sister-name Esther. We've characterized her elsewhere as an eccentric aristocrat, much more accepted in the U.K. than she has been here.

Hester's beyond-Hawthorne's literary appearances include as characters in Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy, in Oscar Wilde's play A Woman of No Importance, in John Irving's novel A Prayer for Owen Meaney, and as Niles and Frasier Crane's mom on Frasier.

Hetty is Hester's usual nickname, sometimes used independently.

Hester Rank in US Top 1000

# 889 in the US

Hester Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 1271 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Hester

• 1271 Nameberry 2025

20 Names Similar to Hester

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Hester.

• Thomasin
• Sibyl
• Philomena
• Clemence
• Honora
• Apolline
• Sigrid
• Theda
• Heloise
• Salome
• Ottoline
• Willamina
• Hildegard
• Hildegarde
• Eugenie
• Clotilde
• Shoshanna
• Odile
• Thisbe
• Magdelene

Famous People Named Hester

• Hester Santlow "England's first ballerina"
• Hester Grenville 1st Countess Temple, 2nd Viscountess Cobham, mother of Hester Pitt and British PM George Grenville; grandmother of PM William Grenville
• Hester (Grenville) Pitt Countess of Chatham, wife of British Prime Minister William Pitt; daughter of Hester Grenville
• Hester Stanhope Viscountess Mahon, daughter of William and Hester Pitt
• Hester Lucy Stanhope English traveler and Arabist; daughter of Charles and Hester Stanhope; granddaughter of William and Hester Pitt
• Hester Lynch Thrale Welsh diarist
• Hester Maria (Thrale) Elphinstone Viscountess Keith, English literary correspondent; daughter of Hester Thrale
• Hester Burton English children's novelist
• Hester Margaret Sainsbury English artist, dancer and poet
• Hester Maria Peirce American lawyer and commissioner of the SEC
• Hester Ashmead Davis American archaeologist
• Hester Chapone English author of women's conduct books

The name Hester in Pop Culture

• Hester Prynne main character in "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Hester Collyer/Page character in Sir Terence Rattigan's 1952 play, The Deep Blue Sea
• Hester Shaw character in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series
• Hester daemon in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy
• Hester Frump Morticia's mother on TV's "The Addams Family"
• Hester Dethridge one of Wilkie Collins' "best half,mad villainesses, homicidal keeper of Anne Silvester in her captivity," in "Man and Wife" (1870)
• Hester Rose (Palmer) Crane mother of Frasier and Niles on TV's "Cheers" and "Frasier"
• Hester Sue Terhune, character on TV's 'Little House on the Prairie'
• Hester character in Soman Chainani's The School for Good and Evil series
• Hester character in "A woman called Fancy" by Frank Yerby
• Hester Latterly character in Anne Perry's William Monk series
• Hester St Clare aka Hassar San Kahlar character in K.A. Barker's "The Book of Days"
• Hester angel in Erik Kripke's "Supernatural"
• Hester Ulrich character in TV Series "Scream Queens"
• Hester Grey character in Rumer Godden's " The Greengage Summer"