Head to head · Girls' names
Abigail vs Avery
#41 vs #37 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Avery is a whisker ahead (#37 vs #41 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Abigail leads 3 measures of 6; Avery leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Abigail #588, Avery — — Abigail higher
- 1890s: Abigail #898, Avery #1210 — Abigail higher
- 1900s: Abigail #1049, Avery #1740 — Abigail higher
- 1910s: Abigail #1236, Avery #2273 — Abigail higher
- 1920s: Abigail #1431, Avery #2370 — Abigail higher
- 1930s: Abigail #1231, Avery #2830 — Abigail higher
- 1940s: Abigail #1030, Avery #3039 — Abigail higher
- 1950s: Abigail #731, Avery #3175 — Abigail higher
- 1960s: Abigail #644, Avery #3203 — Abigail higher
- 1970s: Abigail #364, Avery #2608 — Abigail higher
- 1980s: Abigail #144, Avery #1481 — Abigail higher
- 1990s: Abigail #51, Avery #472 — Abigail higher
- 2000s: Abigail #8, Avery #86 — Abigail higher
- 2010s: Abigail #8, Avery #16 — Abigail higher
- 2020s: Abigail #26, Avery #27 — Abigail higher
Abigail stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Abigail | Avery |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #588 | — |
| 1890s | #898 | #1210 |
| 1900s | #1049 | #1740 |
| 1910s | #1236 | #2273 |
| 1920s | #1431 | #2370 |
| 1930s | #1231 | #2830 |
| 1940s | #1030 | #3039 |
| 1950s | #731 | #3175 |
| 1960s | #644 | #3203 |
| 1970s | #364 | #2608 |
| 1980s | #144 | #1481 |
| 1990s | #51 | #472 |
| 2000s | #8 | #86 |
| 2010s | #8 | #16 |
| 2020s | #26 | #27 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Abigail
- Canada#25
Avery
- Canada#54
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Abigail
my father is joy
A Hebrew sentence joining the word for father to one meaning joy or exultation. It is one of a set of names built the same way, and the construction is a statement about the family rather than a description of the child.
Avigayil → Abigail
How it traveled
In the spring of seventeen seventy-six, with independence being drafted, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband asking him to remember the ladies in the new code of laws and to be more generous to them than his ancestors had been. She added that all men would be tyrants if they could, and that women would not hold themselves bound by laws in which they had no voice.
Avery
elf ruler, from Germanic alf 'elf' and ric 'power, ruler'
Avery and Aubrey are two English outcomes of the same Germanic name, Alberich, which reached England through Norman French.
Alberich → Auberi → Aubrey → Avery
How it traveled
The Germanic name Alberich — alf, 'elf', plus ric, 'power' or 'ruler' — arrived in England with Norman French speakers, who had reshaped it into forms like Auberi and Auvrey. Those forms produced both Aubrey and Avery in medieval English use, and Avery then settled into an English family name carried down the generations.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Abigail
AB-ih-gayl
Three syllables with the stress at the front. The final syllable keeps a full vowel rather than reducing, which is what allows Gail to come off it as a separate name.
- Abby — The standard familiar form, and now a name in its own right.
- Gail — The back of the name, and a complete name on its own.
- Abi — The front in the shorter spelling, commoner in Britain.
Avery
AY-vuh-ree
Often compressed to two syllables, AYV-ree, in ordinary speech. Both are standard and no one will correct you.
- Ave — Informal household short form, usually rhyming with 'save'.
- Avi — Informal, and also a standalone given name of separate Hebrew origin.
- Aves — Casual, more common among friends and siblings than adults.
- Ave-Ave — Doubling used with small children; drops away with age.
- Also Ry.
Who has carried each name
Abigail
Abigail Adams (b. 1744) — Founding-era First Lady who told her husband to "remember the ladies"
Abigail Breslin (b. 1996) — Oscar-nominated at age 10 for Little Miss Sunshine
Avery
No documented entry for Avery yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Abigail if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAbigail is stepping back from its peak
- a long American recordAbigail was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Avery if you want…
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Ave, Avi and Aves
- a newer arrivalAvery entered the US charts in 1890
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Abigail
Strengths
- Abby and Gail come from opposite ends and sound nothing alike.
- The meaning is a full sentence and is documented all the way back.
- It is understood everywhere in the English-speaking world.
To consider
- It has been very common for two decades, so a classroom will hold others.
- Abigale and Abbigail are both recorded and the spelling will be asked about.
- It is recorded for sons as well, though so rarely that a boy would be explaining it.
Avery
Strengths
- One spelling that almost everyone can write on first hearing, with no silent letters to explain.
- A documented line back to medieval England and, before that, to Germanic Alberich — the same root that gave Aubrey.
- Works for a son or a daughter without changing form, and is well established in both directions in American use.
To consider
- Because most Averys are girls, a boy named Avery will meet assumptions on paper — forms, class lists, first emails. Nothing that a spoken introduction doesn't fix, but it happens repeatedly.
- Ava and Avery sit close together in sound and in current use, so expect the occasional mix-up between the two, and think about it before pairing them with a sibling name that starts the same way.
- Averie, Averi and Avry all exist as spellings, so you may sometimes be asked which one you meant.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Abigail and Avery in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Abigail and Avery?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Distinctly American names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- all guides
Every list here names both Abigail and Avery — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Abigail or Avery — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Abigail or Avery?
- Avery, in 2025: Avery ranked #37 with 5,267 babies; Abigail ranked #41 with 4,941 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Abigail or Avery?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Abigail moved down 29 places; Avery moved down 18 places.
- Which is the older name, Abigail or Avery?
- Abigail was already in use when US records began in 1880; Avery entered the US charts in 1890. On the American record, Abigail is the older name.
- How many people are named Abigail and Avery?
- About 407,000 people named Abigail are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 168,000 people named Avery are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Abigails or Averys in the classroom?
- Abigail will almost certainly be the only one in school. Avery will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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