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Etymology •
& Meaning •
Hebrew •
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Meaning and etymology of the name Esther
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Esther 
The name Esther is assigned only once in the Bible, and the name Esther is the common off-the-shelf Persian word for star).
Esther is the Persian name of a Hebrew girl named Hadassah (means myrtle), who was able to avert the genocide of the Hebrews during the time of the Babylonian exile (see the Book of Esther). Her story plays between the two waves of return to Jerusalem but her bravery is still celebrated every year during the feast of Purim (Esther 9:26).
The name Esther was probably given to Hadassah when she entered the court of the Persian king (compare Daniel and his friends) and as such she was known by the people. Or possibly the name was later attributed to her due to her 'stardom.' But to a Hebrew audience the name Esther, the way it was written, had far more meaning than simply the word 'star' in the language of their abductors.
The name Esther may have reminded of a compound of  (ason), meaning evil, harm, from the assumed root  ('sh), plus the word  (tor) meaning a circle or plait or (tor) meaning dove; both from the verb  (tur), to spy or search out. In that way the foreign name Esther would have looked to mean She Searches Out Evil to a Hebrew audience.
Then there is the word  (asar), meaning to tie, bind, gird, with among its derivatives  (esur) meaning bond, band, and (issar), binding obligation.
And finally we list the root  (satar), hide or conceal, with among its derivatives (seter) and  (sitra) both meaning hiding place, and  (mistar) hiding place. That way the name Esther would have sounded like I Am A Hiding Place.
Stars play a major role in the Bible. Astrologists agree with the Bible that stars were created to serve as signs (Genesis 1:14), but nowhere does the Bible suggest that stars influence people beyond their signature nature. God promises Abraham that his offspring would be like the stars (Genesis 15:5) and Daniel reports that those who lead the many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever (12:3).
Paul explains that Abraham's offspring is Christ and whoever is in Christ (Galatians 3:29), and when the magi come to look for the newborn Christ and say that they saw His star in the east (Matthew 2:2), they might have simply referred to the Book of Esther and the other Scriptures that Israel left them after they went back to Canaan: by saying "We read your stuff and we totally dug it."
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