I am not a scholar nor an expert on the history of religion, so as a principle i put my money on the general consensus of said scholar and experts. And here is what it says:
wikipedia on Ester"The modern English term Easter, cognate with modern German Ostern, developed from an Old English word that usually appears in the form Ēastrun, -on, or -an; but also as Ēastru, -o; and Ēastre or Ēostre.[nb 3] The most widely accepted theory of the origin of the term is that it is derived from the name of a goddess mentioned by the 7th to 8th-century English monk Bede, who wrote that Ēosturmōnaþ (Old English 'Month of Ēostre', translated in Bede's time as "Paschal month") was an English month, corresponding to April, which he says "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month".[25]
In Greek and Latin, the Christian celebration was and is called Πάσχα, Pascha, a word derived from Aramaic פסחא, cognate to Hebrew פֶּסַח (Pesach). The word originally denoted the Jewish festival, known in English as Passover, commemorating the story of the Exodus.[26][27] Already in the 50s of the 1st century, Paul, writing from Ephesus to the Christians in Corinth,[28] applied the term to Christ, and it is unlikely that the Ephesian and Corinthian Christians were the first to hear Exodus 12 interpreted as speaking about the death of Jesus, not just about the Jewish Passover ritual.[29] In most of the non-English speaking world, the feast is known by names derived from Greek and Latin Pascha.[3][30]"
german goddess Eostre:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostrepagan origin of easterhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolismI did find a website arguing against the pagan origin of easter, but when i saw what the website was, i burst in laughter. The website in question is no other than "answeringenesis.org", a website sponsored by Ken Ham, wich have been on my shitlist for a few years now, so i didn't bother to read it.If you don't know who Ken Ham is, i encourage you to watch his debate against Bill Nye (2 hours debate over the validity of the "young earth creation theory")
https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/easter/is-the-name-easter-of-pagan-origin/edit: Ken Ham vs Bill Nye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kgvhG3AkI
Edited 4/2/2015 21:47:55