Abbigail
Feminine · “my father is joy”
Abbigail is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 12,154 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Abbigail is a spelling of Abigail, a Hebrew name from the books of Samuel — and the woman who carried it is one of the few people in the narrative who talks David out of something.
How old is the name Abbigail?
Abbigail first appears in US birth records in 1959 — 66 years ago. The typical Abbigail alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 12,000 people named Abbigail are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Abbigail most popular?
Abbigail peaked in 2009, reaching #458 nationally. Today it ranks #3780, 3,322 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Avigayil to Abbigail
The story of Abbigail
Abigail is married to a man the text describes as surly and mean, and when he refuses David supplies she loads donkeys and rides out to meet him herself, talking him out of a massacre in a speech several verses long. Her husband dies and David marries her. English Protestants took the name up after the Reformation. Abbigail with the doubled b is a modern American respelling.
Meaning
my father is joy
From Hebrew avi, my father, and gil, joy or rejoicing; the same first element opens Abner, Absalom and Abishai, all built on the word for a father.
How the name formed
- Avigayil
- Abigail
- Abbigail
Related forms: Abigail · Avigayil · Abigaíl
Pronouncing Abbigail
AB-ih-gale
Three syllables, first stressed. Abbigail and Abigail are said identically.
Nicknames for Abbigail
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
- 1959
- Most girls named
- 2009676 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #458reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- +5.4%39 in 2025, from 37
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.
Abbigail in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Abigail in English — spelling variant
- Avigayil in Hebrew — same name
- Abigaíl in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Abbigails among us
people named Abbigail are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 41,212 born in 2025 was named Abbigail
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Abbigail
- #3780
- Abbigail on the 2025 chart
- #44
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Abbigail went to 39 girls in 2025, but Abigail is the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 5,015, which makes it the 44th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,736 places above the chart.
- Abigail4,941
- Abbigail39
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 320 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 41,212 for Abbigail itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Adrianne test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Abbigail's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Adrianne climbed just as high around 1983, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Adrianne's path sketches the road Abbigail is walking now.
Abbigail 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
Where Abbigail is headed
Abbigail is easing off slowly — about 38% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Abbigail beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Abbigail in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that forms a complete phrase.
- Abby and Gail are both complete short forms with their own histories.
- A documented biblical figure with a genuinely admirable scene behind her.
- Abigail is the standard spelling and will be written for her constantly.
- Nine letters and three syllables is a fair amount for early handwriting.
- The sound is widely used, so a classroom may hold more than one.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Abbigail
Feminine · #3780 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Abbigails are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 12,000 people named Abbigail are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Abbigail?
- Abbigail is one of 2 recorded spellings. Abigail is the more common one — 4,941 births in 2025 against 39 for Abbigail.
- How popular is the name Abbigail in 2025?
- Abbigail ranks #3780 among US girl names in 2025, with 39 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Abbigail?
- About 1 in every 41,212 US girls born in 2025 was named Abbigail — 39 in all.
- Will my child share the name Abbigail with classmates?
- Abbigail will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Abbigail
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kimberlyn#3780 · Jonah#3780 · Aine#3780 · Jakayla#3780 · Shriya#3780 · Analeigh#3780 · Daliyah#3780 · Jamia#3780
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Abbigail? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Abbigail and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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