Abigail
Feminine · “my father is joy”
Abigail is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 413,263 girls against 672 boys since 1880. See Abigail as a boy name
Abigail is a Hebrew sentence-name that English has had since the Reformation, dropped almost entirely for a hundred years, and then took up again with more enthusiasm than it ever had the first time. Its most quoted American bearer wrote one paragraph that is still being argued over.
How old is the name Abigail?
Abigail was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Abigail alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 407,000 people named Abigail are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Abigail most popular?
Abigail peaked in 2005, reaching #4 nationally. Today it ranks #41, 37 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Where it comes from
From Avigayil to Abigail
The story of Abigail
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. The letter survives because the Adamses kept everything. So does his reply, which treats the request as a joke, tells her he cannot help laughing, and says that men know better than to repeal their masculine systems. She wrote back that the arbitrary power they were complaining of in Britain was one they held over their own households. The exchange is the earliest American statement of the argument.
Meaning
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.
Cultural footprint
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
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Avigayil
- Abigail
Related forms: Avigail · Abigaíl · Abigaël
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Abigail
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 200715,476 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4reached in 2005
- Change vs 2022
- −21.6%4,941 in 2025, from 6,306
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.
Abigail in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Avigail in Hebrew — same name
- Abigaíl in Spanish — same name
- Abigaël in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. International figures from Statistics Canada. Sources
Abigails among us
people named Abigail are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 325 born in 2025 was named Abigail
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 Carol test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Abigail's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carol climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carol's path sketches the road Abigail is walking now.
Abigail is coming down from a big peak (#4 in 2005). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Abigail is headed
Abigail is easing off slowly — about 17% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High 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.
Abigail beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Abigail in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- 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.
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What they receive
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Abigail
Feminine · #41 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Abigails are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 407,000 people named Abigail are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Abigail in 2025?
- Abigail ranks #41 among US girl names in 2025, with 4,941 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Abigail?
- About 1 in every 325 US girls born in 2025 was named Abigail — 4,941 in all.
- Will my child share the name Abigail with classmates?
- Abigail will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Abigail
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elena#42 · Madison#40 · Ivy#39 · Mila#43 · Willow#44 · Grace#38 · Avery#37 · Emilia#45
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Abigail? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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