Abigail

Where Abigail comes from

From Hebrew אֲבִיגַיִל (avigáyil, “Abigail”, literally “my Father's joy” or “fountain of joy”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Abigail
  • Hebrew
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1744
    Abigail Adams born
    First Lady of the United States from 1797 to 1801
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #492 among girls — 12 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1996
    Abigail Breslin born
    American actress
  4. 2005
    Peak, #4
    15,756 babies named Abigail — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2021
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #17.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Hebrew, used since the 16th century, and currently quite popular.
Namesakes
  • Abigail Adams · First Lady of the United States from 1797 to 1801, 1744–1818
  • Abigail Breslin · American actress, born 1996
  • Abigail Johnson · American businesswoman, business executive, heiress, billionaire, born 1961
  • Abigail Fillmore · First Lady of the United States from 1850 to 1853, 1798–1853
  • Abigail Spanberger · American politician and former intelligence officer, born 1979

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.