Abigail

What Abigail means

Means “my Father's joy”

From Hebrew אֲבִיגַיִל (avigáyil, “Abigail”, literally “my Father's joy” or “fountain of joy”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Abigail” (revision 94534293), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Abigail?

US: Falling: down from #7 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #51 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2003, when 15,932 girls got the name (#6 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 325 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 895 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 688 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in AK (12.1 per 1,000 girls), VT (10.27 per 1,000 girls), DE (9.31 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Abigail is #41 in the US and #171 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Abigail were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the US pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Abbigail39 US
• Abigael22 US · 6 E&W
• Abigayle27 US
• Abigale22 US
• Abygail18 US
• Abbygail17 US
• Abagail13 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Nicknames

• Abbey
• Abbi
• Abbie
• Abby
• Abi
• Gail
• Gayle

Listed on Wiktionary under “pet forms”.

If you like Abigail

Girls

• Makayla#566Form of Michael, meaning “who is like God?”^*
• Annika#995Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2003, with 1,089 babies; 254 in 2025
• Jordyn#371Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #136 in 2015, #371 in 2025
• Isabel#176“my God is an oath”^*
• Daniela#302Form of Daniel, meaning “God is my judge”^*
• Gabriella#105Editor’s note Down from #54 in 2015 to #105 in 2025 in the US

For a brother

• Kaleb#295“dog”^*
• Caleb#58possibly “dog”^*
• Issac#915Variant of Isaac, meaning “he laughs, he will laugh”^*
• Gabriel#37Finnish, meaning “God is my strong man, God is my hero”^*
• Isaiah#57Editor’s note Down from #49 in 2015 to #57 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 320 US boys in the 2025 records
• Ethan#24“firmness, strong, or long-lived”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Bible, Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Abigail’s. Rank is US 2025.