Is Star a Biblical Name? No, but Esther May Mean “Star”

No one in the Bible is named Star. The Bible name usually explained as “star” is Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia, whose name may come from the Persian word for star. Estrella, the Spanish word and name, appears often in Spanish Bibles, but never as anyone’s name.

Is Star a biblical name?

Star does not occur as a personal name in the Hebrew or Greek text of the Bible or in any translation, and neither do its forms in other languages, such as Estrella in Spanish or Stella in Latin and Italian. The English name is the ordinary English word, which goes back to the Old English steorra. As a girl’s name it has always been rare in the United States, where it reached the list of the 1,000 most common names only in 1978–1980 and 1997–1998.

Esther, the name that may mean star

Esther, a Jewish orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai in the Persian city of Susa, became queen to King Ahasuerus and saved her people from Haman’s plan to destroy them. The book that bears her name gives her two names: “He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother” (Esther 2:7). Hadassah comes from the Hebrew word for the myrtle tree. Esther possibly means “star” in Persian; another explanation connects it with Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess associated with the planet Venus.

Jewish tradition noticed the star in her name. The Babylonian Talmud records a debate about which of her two names was her real one. Rabbi Nehemya held that Hadassah was her real name and that Esther “was her non-Hebrew name, for owing to her beauty the nations of the world called her after Istahar, Venus.” Rabbi Yehuda explained Esther instead from the Hebrew verb for hiding, because she concealed who she was: “Esther had not yet made known her kindred nor her people” (Esther 2:20, quoted in Megillah 13a).

The French name Estelle also means “star,” from the Latin stella, but it is not a form of Esther.

What does Estrella mean in the Bible?

Estrella is the Spanish word for star and the Spanish form of the name Stella. As a name it has no meaning in the Bible, because no one in the Bible bears it, but the word is common in Spanish Bibles. The Reina-Valera translation of 1909 prints it in capital letters in Balaam’s prophecy, “saldrá ESTRELLA de Jacob,” “a star shall come out of Jacob” (Numbers 24:17), a verse that early Christians read as a prophecy of the Messiah. The Psalms say of God that he counts the stars and names them: “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names” (Psalm 147:4).

In Spanish-speaking countries the name is also linked with the Virgin Mary. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Virgen del Carmen, is called Estrella del Mar, “Star of the Sea,” from the Latin title Stella Maris, and is the patroness of sailors. In Seville a Holy Week brotherhood founded in 1560 carries an image of the Virgen de la Estrella, the Virgin of the Star, through the streets on Palm Sunday.

What is the Hebrew word for star?

The Hebrew word is kokhav, and it is the word in Numbers 24:17. It became part of a famous name about a century after Jesus. Simon bar Kosiba led the Jewish revolt against Rome that began in 132, and Rabbi Akiva applied Balaam’s prophecy to him, playing on kokhav and the name Kosiba. The name Bar Kokhba, “son of the star,” comes from that saying. He was killed at Betar in 135. The Greek word for star, used in the New Testament, is astēr.

What do stars symbolize in the Bible?

Stars appear in Scripture as the work of God’s hands and as signs of his promises. God took Abraham outside and told him, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them,” and then, “So shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5). Daniel says that “those who turn many to righteousness” will shine “like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). In Revelation the seven stars in Christ’s right hand “are the angels of the seven churches” (Revelation 1:20), and Jesus calls himself “the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16). The star that led the Magi to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:2) made the star a Christian sign of Christmas and Epiphany.

Related reading

• Is Estelle in the Bible? No, the Name Comes from the Latin for “Star”
• Christian History: What Is the Star of Bethlehem?
• 24 Best Bible Verses About Stars

Related reading

• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names