Abilene
Feminine · “grassy meadow”
Abilene is a grassy place in Aramaic, named once in Luke — and it became a Kansas cattle town, the end of the Chisholm Trail.
How old is the name Abilene?
Abilene first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Abilene is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,700 people named Abilene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Abilene most popular?
Abilene peaked in 2024, reaching #1942 nationally. Today it ranks #2064, 122 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From abel to Abilene
The story of Abilene
Luke names Lysanias as tetrarch of Abilene in a dating formula and never mentions it again. American settlers took the name from the Bible for towns in Kansas and Texas; the Kansas Abilene was the railhead of the Chisholm Trail and the roughest cattle town of its decade. The given name appears in the registers in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
grassy meadow
From the Aramaic and Hebrew abel, generally read as 'meadow' or 'grassy place', naming a region near Damascus that Luke 3 mentions once. The reading is the commonest but the Semitic root is not fully settled. The Texas and Kansas towns are named from the biblical place.
How the name formed
- abel
- Abilene
Related forms: Ἀβιληνή · Abilene
Pronouncing Abilene
AB-ih-leen
Three syllables, stress on the first. The final e is not sounded.
Nicknames for Abilene
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
- 1964
- Most girls named
- 2024102 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1942reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −10.8%91 in 2025, from 102
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.
Abilene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ἀβιληνή in Greek — transliteration
- Abilene in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Abilenes among us
people named Abilene are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 17,662 born in 2025 was named Abilene
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 Despina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Abilene's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Despina climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Despina's path sketches the road Abilene is walking now.
Abilene 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 Abilene is headed
Abilene looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Abilene beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Abilene in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That a place named once in Luke became the roughest cattle town in Kansas is a first-rate history.
- Abi and Lena are two short forms, both with large records.
- The grassy-meadow meaning is concrete and pleasant.
- It reads as a Texan or Kansan place name to many Americans.
- The Semitic root is not fully settled.
- Three syllables make it moderately long for everyday use.
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What they receive
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Abilene
Feminine · #2064 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Abilenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Abilene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Abilene in 2025?
- Abilene ranks #2064 among US girl names in 2025, with 91 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Abilene?
- About 1 in every 17,662 US girls born in 2025 was named Abilene — 91 in all.
- Will my child share the name Abilene with classmates?
- Abilene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Abilene
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Annabel#2064 · Bobbie#2064 · Nylani#2064 · Edie#2064 · Ryla#2064 · Annaliese#2064 · Devora#2064 · Fatimah#2064
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Abilene? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Abilene and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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