girl's name
Estelle
es-TEL
- Origin French
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Top 1000 (France)
- Births on record 135,216
the United States
#573
2025 births
Estelle means star, and France and the United States rank it within 55 places of each other — 518th and 573rd — which is unusually close for a French name in an English-speaking market.
- Estelle is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 1973, when 2,915 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 6,550 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Estelle over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 1,540 |
| 1910s | 925 |
| 1920s | 785 |
| 1930s | 505 |
| 1940s | 260 |
| 1950s | 595 |
| 1960s | 4,280 |
| 1970s | 21,655 |
| 1980s | 14,395 |
| 1990s | 19,355 |
| 2000s | 6,980 |
| 2010s | 2,740 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 680 |
What Estelle means
Estelle means star. The Latin stella is the ordinary noun for one, and the name uses it directly rather than deriving a quality or description from it.
Where Estelle comes from
Estelle is the French form of the Latin stella, a star, and the Provençal Estelle is the older spelling. The same root gives stellar, constellation and the Italian Stella. Saint Estelle was a third-century martyr of Saintes in western France, and the name is heavily associated with Provence, where a nineteenth-century revival of Occitan literature took her up. Esther is a separate name often confused with it — Persian rather than Latin — though the Persian may itself relate to a word for a star, which would make the resemblance less accidental than it looks.
Estelle in use
Estelle peaked in France in 1973, when 2,915 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 518th in France on 90 births and 573rd in the United States on 523 — within 55 places of each other — then 777th in Ireland and 957th in England and Wales on 37, across 135,216 lifetime births in five of the seven markets we track.
How popular is Estelle?
In 2025, Estelle was given to 90 babies in France, ranking #518 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Estelle is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Estelle
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Estelle also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Estelle over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Estelle
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Estelle in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Estelle
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Estelle — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Estelle
What does the name Estelle mean?
Star — the Latin stella.
Is Estelle the same as Stella?
The same word. Estelle is the French development and Stella the Latin form used directly.
Is Estelle related to Esther?
A separate Persian name, though the Persian may itself relate to a word for a star.
How popular is Estelle?
518th in France and 573rd in the United States — unusually close.
Is Estelle a girl's or a boy's name?
Estelle is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Estelle?
Estelle has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Estelle?
Estelle is usually shortened to Essie.
Is Estelle a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Estelle currently ranks #140 in France. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.