Abagail
Feminine · “Hebrew "my father is joy”
Abigail became the English word for a lady's maid. A 1616 play gave a maidservant that name, the character was well known enough for the name to become the job, and abigail stayed in the language as a common noun for two hundred years.
How old is the name Abagail?
Abagail first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Abagail alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 5,800 people named Abagail are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Abagail most popular?
Abagail peaked in 2008, reaching #868 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 7,017 places below that high. See the whole 2008 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Avigayil to Abagail
The story of Abagail
The common noun comes from Beaumont and Fletcher's The Scornful Lady, staged around 1616, whose waiting-gentlewoman is called Abigail. The name may have been chosen because the biblical Abigail repeatedly calls herself David's handmaid. The word caught on: Swift, Fielding and Smollett all use abigail for a lady's maid, and it was still current in the nineteenth century. The same process gave English derrick from a hangman's name and, later, a bobby from Robert Peel. The name itself declined in English use for a long period and returned strongly in America from the 1990s. Abagail peaks in 2008.
Meaning
Hebrew "my father is joy"
From Avigayil, avi, my father, plus a word for joy or rejoicing. Abigail in the first book of Samuel is the wife of the churlish Nabal and later of David, and she intervenes decisively to prevent a massacre. Abagail is an American respelling; the unstressed second vowel is a schwa and carries no information.
How the name formed
- Avigayil
- Abigail
- Abagail
Related forms: Abigail · Abigaíl · אביגיל
Pronouncing Abagail
AB-uh-gale
Three syllables, stress on the first. Abigail and Abagail are pronounced identically; the middle vowel is a schwa in both.
Nicknames for Abagail
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 2008321 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #868reached in 2008
- Change vs 2024
- −40.9%13 in 2025, from 22
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Abagail in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Abigail in English — spelling variant
- Abigaíl in Spanish — same name
- אביגיל in Hebrew — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Pennsylvania, Florida.
Abagails among us
people named Abagail are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Abagail
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Gladis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Abagail's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gladis climbed just as high around 1909, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gladis's path sketches the road Abagail is walking now.
Abagail sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Abagail beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Abagail in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and warm.
- Abby and Gail are immediate short forms.
- It carries a biblical figure who is unusually decisive in her own story.
- Abigail is the standard spelling and will be substituted constantly.
- The name was an English word for a servant for two centuries.
- The 2000s peak dates a bearer fairly clearly.
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What they receive
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Abagail
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Abagails are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,800 people named Abagail are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Abagail in 2025?
- Abagail ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Abagail?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Abagail — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Abagail with classmates?
- Abagail will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Abagail
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Abagail? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Abagail and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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