| Roxana | Hester | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Dawn, radiant | Star (disputed) |
| Origin | Persian | persian |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | rok-SAN-ah | HES-ter |
| Syllables | 3 | 2 |
| First appeared | 1882 | 0 |
| Peak year | 1991 (315) | 1918 (394) |
| In 2025 | 77 | 0 |
| Trend | Declining | Vintage |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Roxana | Hester |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 555 | 10 |
| 2010s | 1,270 | 12 |
| 2000s | 2,304 | 15 |
| 1990s | 2,517 | 49 |
| 1980s | 2,272 | 154 |
| 1970s | 944 | 239 |
| 1960s | 690 | 348 |
| 1950s | 588 | 754 |
| 1940s | 395 | 1,115 |
| 1930s | 185 | 1,523 |
| 1920s | 133 | 3,037 |
| 1910s | 67 | 3,111 |
| 1900s | 31 | 1,663 |
| 1890s | 17 | 1,401 |
| 1880s | 26 | 796 |
Roxana means “dawn,” “bright” or “radiant”; she married Alexander the Great.
A medieval English variant of Esther, carrying the same widely-accepted 'star' sense (via Old Persian 'stara') and the same unresolved debate over whether the root is the word for star or the goddess Ishtar. Known from Hawthorne's Hester Prynne.
Roxana is more popular than Hester today: about 77 US babies were given the name Roxana in 2025, compared with 0 named Hester.
Roxana means Dawn, radiant (Persian origin), while Hester means Star (disputed) (persian origin).
In US records, Roxana first appears in 1882 and Hester in 0, so Hester has the longer recorded history.