Yes, I'm familiar with the poetical meaning (root of ethereal, etc.) However, the OP suggested that the usage of Ether was possibly linked to the drug, and I don't think that's likely.
Celeste does appear in the data for the same time period. However, I'm not sure that you can extrapolate from the usage of this Latin/French name (borne by several popes, popular among early Christians) that most of the English-speaking parents who chose Ether in the first half of the 20th century used it because of its literal meaning. Of course, it is possible that a few did.
For what it's worth,
Heaven and
Sky are not recorded in the data at this early period.
Skye first appears in 1962,
Heaven in 1971, so they could hardly be the "precedent" for Ether.
And just curious, what do you mean by '"ether" (without an "a")'?