Estelle (given name)

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Estelle is a female given name of French derivation of the Occitan word Estèla (Star) usually interpreted as meaning "star" via equation with "estoile" the Old French form of the modern French "etoile" whose Latin root is "stella".^[1] Saint Estelle is the name of a third-century Occitan martyr: the older form of her name Eustalia indicates a derivation from the Greek "eustales" i.e. well-groomed.^[2] The name Estelle was brought by the Normans to Great Britain, where it likely absorbed the Anglo-Saxon name Estrilde derived from Easter, either referencing the Christian festival or the dawn goddess whose name defaulted to that feast, combined with the element "hilde" meaning "warrior".^[3] Obsolete in English usage after the Middle Ages, Estelle was revived in the Victorian era after Charles Dickens gave the variant form Estella to a character in his 1860-61 novel Great Expectations; Estelle and Estella were popular from 1880 to 1930 with a subsequent decline to become unfashionable since 1960.^[1] Estelle is also used as an alternate form of Esther.^[4]

List of people with the given name Estelle

• Estelle (musician), British singer/rapper
• Estelle Asmodelle, Australian transsexual model, dancer and actress
• Estelle Bennett, American singer (the Ronettes)
• Estelle Blackburn, award-winning Australian journalist
• Estelle Getty, American actress - star of The Golden Girls
• Estelle Harris, American actress - Estelle Costanza in Seinfeld'
• Estelle Lefébure, French model
• Estelle Liebling, American vocal coach
• Estelle Morris Baroness Morris of Yardley, British politician
• Estelle Parsons, American actress - Oscar winner for Bonnie and Clyde
• Estelle Winwood, British character actress
• Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland, Princess of Sweden

See also

• Estella (disambiguation)
• Esther (given name)
• Stella (given name)

References