Hester
- Gender
- Girl
- Say it
- HES-ter
- Origin
- Persian
- UK rank, 2025
- #1,961 for girls
Hester is a girls' name of Persian origin, meaning “star”. In 2025 it ranked 1,961st for girls in the UK (15 babies).
What does Hester mean?
Persian: medieval form of Esther, via Hebrew and Latin
“star”
Hester Prynne is the heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter.
More on Wiktionary.
Is Hester a girl's or a boy's name?
Hester is a girls' name. In 2025, it was given to 15 girls in the UK. Too few boys were given it to be listed.
How popular is Hester in the UK?
- Rank in 2025
- 1,961st among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 15 about 1 in 19,000 girls
- Five-year trend
- Steady down 12% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 15 girls in the UK were named Hester, making it the 1,961st most popular name for girls. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 1,780th. Its busiest year was 2012, with 27 girls.
Half of all the girls named Hester in the UK since 1996 were born between 2003 and 2017. It was already well used in 1996, when the records begin, so earlier girls aren't counted.
Among girls in 2025, it was 1,892nd in England and Wales.
Hester in the UK, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15 | #1,961 |
| 2024 | 10 | #2,644 |
| 2023 | 17 | #1,798 |
| 2022 | 9 | #2,805 |
| 2021 | 14 | #2,069 |
| 2020 | 17 | #1,780 |
| 2019 | 13 | #2,157 |
| 2018 | 18 | #1,739 |
| 2017 | 18 | #1,763 |
| 2016 | 17 | #1,853 |
| 2015 | 27 | #1,317 |
| 2014 | 21 | #1,544 |
| 2013 | 17 | #1,798 |
| 2012 | 27 | #1,293 |
| 2011 | 20 | #1,570 |
| 2010 | 15 | #1,912 |
| 2009 | 15 | #1,848 |
| 2008 | 19 | #1,548 |
| 2007 | 18 | #1,544 |
| 2006 | 17 | #1,545 |
| 2005 | 16 | #1,521 |
| 2004 | 13 | #1,722 |
| 2003 | 13 | #1,649 |
| 2002 | 11 | #1,755 |
| 2001 | 11 | #1,723 |
| 2000 | 16 | #1,290 |
| 1999 | 13 | #1,493 |
| 1998 | 22 | #1,049 |
| 1997 | 20 | #1,087 |
| 1996 | 24 | #924 |
Nicknames for Hester
Names like Hester
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Esther, Harriet, Lottie, Hattie, Florence, Elsie, Alice, Hazel, Annie, Mabel, Nellie, Ada
More Persian names
Jasper, Jasmine, Casper, Cyrus, Yasmin, Darius, Zorawar, Kiyan, Rumi, Yasmine, Kasper, Mahnoor, Dario, Arian, Arman, Armaan
Sources
Figures from Baby names in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics), Babies' first names (National Records of Scotland) and Baby names (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Hester: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/hester, updated 20 October 2026.