Abra
Feminine · “Greek habra”
The Latin translators of the Book of Judith kept one Greek word they did not translate: abra, the personal maid who goes everywhere with her mistress. Later readers, meeting it among proper names, took the word for the woman. Abra entered English as a person rather than a job.
How old is the name Abra?
Abra first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Abra alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 1,000 people named Abra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Abra most popular?
Abra peaked in 1983, reaching #1689 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 9,228 places below that high. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From habra to Abra
The story of Abra
The Greek text of Judith calls the heroine's servant her habra, a word for the attendant of a woman of rank rather than for the household staff at large. The Vulgate carried it across untranslated, and readers of the Latin, finding abra beside proper names, understood it as one. English writers inherited the misunderstanding and used Abra for servant characters, so the word arrived in the language already wearing a person. Steinbeck gave it to Abra Bacon in East of Eden, and Elia Kazan filmed the novel three years later, which is where most American readers have met it.
Meaningscholars disagree
Greek habra, a favored maidservant
Two readings compete. The older is Greek habra, the word for the trusted personal maid of a woman of rank, which Latin versions of Judith left untranslated until it was read as a name. The newer treats Abra as a feminine of Abraham, Hebrew for father of a multitude, on the strength of the shared opening syllable; that reading appears in name books rather than in early records.
How the name formed
- habra
- abra
- Abra
Pronouncing Abra
AY-bruh
Two syllables, stress on the first. AH-bruh is also said, and neither is wrong: the spelling gives no instruction either way, so the family decides.
Nicknames for Abra
Limited
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
- 1955
- Most girls named
- 198365 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1689reached in 1983
- Change vs 2024
- −33.3%8 in 2025, from 12
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.
Abra in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Abras among us
people named Abra are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Abra
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 Trenda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Abra's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Trenda climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Trenda's path sketches the road Abra is walking now.
Abra 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
Abra beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Abra in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables, spelled the way it sounds.
- A documented history in Latin and in American literature.
- It shares its opening with Abigail without borrowing the rest of it.
- Abracadabra is what many people will think of first, and children will find it quickly.
- It will be heard as a shortening of Abigail.
- In Spanish, abra is an everyday word — the command to open, and a gap between hills — which is worth knowing in a Spanish-speaking household.
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What they receive
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Abra
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Abras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Abra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Abra in 2025?
- Abra ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Abra?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Abra — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Abra with classmates?
- Abra will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Abra
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Abra? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Abra and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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