Ishtaar as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Ishtaar

What is the meaning of the name Ishtaar ?

The baby name Ishtaar is a Female name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced /ˈɪʃtɑːr/ (ISH-tahr).

Ishtaar is Akkadian, Sumerian in Origin.

Ishtaar is a modern respelling of Ishtar, from Akkadian Ištar, name of the major Mesopotamian goddess of love, fertility, and war, identified with the planet Venus. The etymology is debated; scholars link it to West Semitic Astarte/Ashtart and the Proto-Semitic deity ‘Athtar (“Venus, the star”), while others see a loan from Sumerian Inanna, her near-equivalent. Because of the Venus connection, the name is often interpreted as “star” or “morning/evening star,” alongside the broader sense “goddess of love.”

As a given name, Ishtar (and the rarer Ishtaar) appears in modern usage rather than in antiquity, where it featured mostly in theophoric compounds (e.g., Iddin-Ištar). The revival grew with archaeological discoveries (the Ishtar Gate) and contemporary interest in Near Eastern myth. Variants and related forms include Ishtar, Istar, Ischtar, Eštar, Astarte, Ashtoreth, and Inanna; the name is typically feminine but can be treated as unisex today.

⚙ Nothing for Ishtaar shows up in the birth registries or name datasets we track. That's typically a sign of a rare name, a regional or traditional one, or a modern coinage. By any reading, it's an exceptionally uncommon choice.