Next to angels, the most common symbol to top Christmas trees is stars. For Christians, stars symbolise Christ, "the bright morning star." The Christmas Star, in particular, is a reference to the Star of Bethlehem that led the Magi to the baby Jesus in the Nativity.
There has been much debate over the centuries trying to attribute the Star of Bethlehem to a specific star. Some have suggested that it was, in fact, a comet; others see it as a supernova. One of the most popular current theories attributes the star as Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.
There a multitude of names with starry meanings.
The Ancient Greeks had αστηρ (aster) "star", which gave rise to names such as Aster, Astra and Asteris. In Greek mythology, Asteria ("starry") was the Titan goddess of astrology; Asterope ("star" + "face") was a Naiad Nymph; and Astraia / Astraea was a goddess of justice, more familiar to us as the constellation Virgo. There is also Astronoe ("star + mind") and the botanical names Astrantia and Astrophora ("stars + bearing"), and the literary name Astrophel ("star + lover"), created by Sir Philip Sidney for Astrophel and Stella (1591).
The Latin word for star is stella, which was used in the 16th century by Sir Philip Sidney for his poem Astrophel and Stella, and saw popular usage from the 19th century. From medieval French, we find Estelle, which led to Estella, and Estela and Maristela in Spain. The Spanish word for star is the related Estrella, also used as a first name, while the Romanian form is stela, and the French is étoile.
The word star in English comes from the Middle English sterre and, before that, steorra in Old English. It is related to the Old Norse stjarna, the Old High German sterro and the Dutch ster, which is used in the Netherlands in the name Sterre. The Welsh word is Seren, which is a popular first name for girls in Wales, while the Cornish use the very similar Steren. Star itself is found as a feminine name, as is the elaboration Starla.
Tara is the Sanskrit word for star, and is the name of a Hindu astral goddess, and a Buddhist deity, while Sitara is the Hindi. The similar-sounding Setareh is a Persian name, while Kochav and Kochava are modern Hebrew names derived from the Hebrew כוכב (kochav) "star". Csilla is found in Hungarian, Hoshi in Japanese and Zvjezdana in Croatia.
