| Soraya | Hester | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | The Pleiades | Star (disputed) |
| Origin | Persian | persian |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | soh-RY-ah | HES-ter |
| Syllables | 3 | 2 |
| First appeared | 1955 | 0 |
| Peak year | 2025 (313) | 1918 (394) |
| In 2025 | 313 | 0 |
| Trend | Near its peak | Vintage |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Soraya | Hester |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 1,517 | 10 |
| 2010s | 1,963 | 12 |
| 2000s | 1,580 | 15 |
| 1990s | 629 | 49 |
| 1980s | 422 | 154 |
| 1970s | 313 | 239 |
| 1960s | 326 | 348 |
| 1950s | 61 | 754 |
| 1940s | 0 | 1,115 |
| 1930s | 0 | 1,523 |
| 1920s | 0 | 3,037 |
| 1910s | 0 | 3,111 |
| 1900s | 0 | 1,663 |
| 1890s | 0 | 1,401 |
| 1880s | 0 | 796 |
Soraya names the Pleiades star cluster in Persian.
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.
Soraya is more popular than Hester today: about 313 US babies were given the name Soraya in 2025, compared with 0 named Hester.
Soraya means The Pleiades (Persian origin), while Hester means Star (disputed) (persian origin).
In US records, Soraya first appears in 1955 and Hester in 0, so Hester has the longer recorded history.