Ishtar: Mesopotamian goddess of love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, combat, and political power.
A new find, hooray! I think it’s a gorgeous name, simple and powerful.
What do you think? Any other names it brings to mind?
I think it’s beautiful and significant, but almost too much so? As if it feels too powerful and sacred to use. I picture the ancient Mesopotamian temples, incredible feats of human engineering borne of reverence, and for feminine deities, no less. While I am not religious, I do believe there is great power in symbolism. Ishtar kind of radiates power from one of the earliest known civilisations, with this strong connection to human history. However, the name [name_f]Ester[/name_f] is on my list, and there are theories that the name is connected to Ishtar.
In the US, at least, most people’s first association with Ishtar is this: Ishtar (film) - Wikipedia
A huge, notorious film flop from the 80s.
I’m from the US and have never heard of the film, so that probably doesn’t matter as much.
You might have some trouble with people trying to pronounce the name. Looking at it, I would guess ISH-tar, and I believe I’ve heard it pronounced that was too. But I also read somewhere that it’s supposed to be pronounced EESS-tar (closer to [name_f]Easter[/name_f], which is supposedly where the name of the holiday originated in the first place), so possibly double check about that before trying to use it.
I personally flinch a little bit when trying to imagine using the name on a child, but that’s entirely due to my religious beliefs and preferences (I have the same problem with names like [name_f]Athena[/name_f] and [name_f]Freya[/name_f], which are beautiful names, but I would never personally be able to use them). Again, this is my own opinion so don’t let it sway you too much. I only mentioned it because you might encounter other people with the same initial reaction.
I’m not middle eastern, but I pronounce it close to EESH-tar, never ever Ayesh-tar.
[name_f]Easter[/name_f] originated from Eostre - goddess worshiped on British grounds before Romans.
To me Ishtar feels a bit too out-there to be wearable, but I guess it would depend on your ethnic background.
It reminds me of the [name_f]Indian[/name_f] name [name_f]Isha[/name_f].
I’m from the US and I’ve never heard of the film. I like the meaning and sentiment behind the name, but it sounds very harsh and unattractive to me. But if you love it, go for it!
Thanks for the thoughts. I’ve never heard of the film - interesting association!
I should probably state in my OP(s), I’m not always considering names for actual children. I just love discovering new ones! Ishtar is not something I’d use as a first, but I do think it’s wonderfully powerful sounding and a little bit dark, in the best way!
I could definitely be wrong about the origin then. It’s just something I read on the internet at some point, and we all know how accurate the internet is for everything, right?
I know. I remember that popular facebook post that addressed the Ishtar - [name_f]Easter[/name_f]. I almost fall for it.
I want to like it, I really do, but to me it just sounds so masculine. I want to pronounce it Ish-tar, but I think eess-tar is probably correct, so it does sound a little like [name_f]Easter[/name_f], which I do kind of like.