| Yasmin | Hester | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Jasmine flower | Star (disputed) |
| Origin | persian | persian |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | yaz-MEEN | HES-ter |
| Syllables | 2 | 2 |
| First appeared | 1949 | 0 |
| Peak year | 2006 (1,018) | 1918 (394) |
| In 2025 | 269 | 0 |
| Trend | Declining | Vintage |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Yasmin | Hester |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 1,680 | 10 |
| 2010s | 3,311 | 12 |
| 2000s | 8,426 | 15 |
| 1990s | 4,931 | 49 |
| 1980s | 1,845 | 154 |
| 1970s | 931 | 239 |
| 1960s | 320 | 348 |
| 1950s | 298 | 754 |
| 1940s | 5 | 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 |
IS a bloom word: the Persian/Arabic form of the jasmine flower name, from Persian 'yasamin'. Variant of Jasmine/Yasmeen.
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.
Yasmin is more popular than Hester today: about 269 US babies were given the name Yasmin in 2025, compared with 0 named Hester.
Yasmin means Jasmine flower (persian origin), while Hester means Star (disputed) (persian origin).
In US records, Yasmin first appears in 1949 and Hester in 0, so Hester has the longer recorded history.