Estelle

Estelle is the French form of the Latin “stella” meaning “star”. Although the Modern French word for star is “étoiles”, in Old French is was “estroile”, hence the name Estelle. The name was born by a 3rd century Gaulish Christian martyr (present day southern France). In the first century B.C., Julius Caesar successful conquered Gaul (a then-Celtic region comprising most of Western Europe) and incorporated it into the Roman Empire. By the third century A.D. Gaul was still under the pagan laws of Rome, and as a result, conversion to Christianity was punishable by death. Estelle was one such ancient woman who met her own death in such a fashion. She was the daughter of a prominent Roman governor and descended from a powerful family of Druids (a priestly class of pagan Celts) on her mother’s side. Having come under the spiritual influence of an early Christian bishop in Gaul, Estelle was eventually baptized by him thus sealing her conversion. Estelle’s father had both the bishop and his daughter killed for their “crime” – he with an axe to his head and she by being thrown into an arena (i.e., death by public pleasure). Such “saintly” legends were highly popularized (and often embellished) during the Middle Ages, and medieval folks (especially the French) adopted these pious names for their children (mostly as a protective measure). St. Estelle’s Feast Day is May 11 and she is the patroness to young Christian girls. The French would eventually introduce this celestial name to the English after the Norman Conquest of 1066 but it was not entirely adopted until much later in the 19th century due to the character named Estella Havisham in Charles Dickens’ novel “Great Expectations” (1861). Today Estelle is a Top 100 favorite baby girl’s name in Belgium and a Top 200 in France.