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 [ 3 syll. a-bi-gai(l), ab-iga-il ] The girl name Abigail is pronounced as AEBahGEYL KEY. Abigail is used predominantly in English and German, and its origin is Hebrew. Abigail's meaning is my father rejoices, joy of my father. Biblical name derived from the elements 'av' which means father ; 'giyl' which means joy, rejoice. Abigajil (Hebrew), Avigayil (Hebrew), and Awigajil (Hebrew) are old forms of the name. In the Bible, Abigail was the intelligent and beautiful wife of Nabal of Carmel, who later became King David's third wife. The name was also borne by King David's sister, and by the mother of Absalom's captain Amasa. As a result of the appearances in the Bible, the name was widely adopted by the Puritans in the 17th century. Abigail was also commonly used as a name for ladies' maids in literature, for instance in Beaumont and Fletcher's play The Scornful Ladie (1616). This use is congruent with the biblical Abigail, who described herself to David in the Bible as 'thy servant'. As a result, the name was also used as a slang term for a servant during the 18th century and therefore lost some of its popularity. Its decline was also due to Abigail Masham (1680-1734), the unpopular lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne. In literature, notable bearers include the ill-fated daughter of Barabas in The Jew of Malta (1589 or 1590) and the manipulative Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible (1950s). The name is also taken as the Anglicized form of Gobnait in Ireland. The name Abigail is used to a great extent; it has 49 variants that are used in both English and other languages. English variants of Abigail include Abagale, Abagil, Abaigeal, Abbe, Abbygail, Abbygale, Abegail (used in Spanish too), Abegayle, Abgail, Abichail, Abigael, Abigal (used in Dutch too), Abigall, Abigel, Abigil, Gaila, and Gaile. Other English forms include the short forms Gael, Gail, Gale, Gayel, Gayl, and Gayle, the pet forms Abba, Abbee, Abbey (used in Irish too), Abbi, Abbie (used in Irish too), Abby (used in German too), and Abbye, and the spelling variants Abagael, Abagail, Abageal, Abaigael, Abbegail, Abbegale, Abbigail (used in German too), Abbigale, Abbigayle, Abigale, Abigayl, and Abigayle. Variants of Abigail used in other languages include Abiageal (Irish), Abigaíl (Spanish), Apikalia (Hawaiian), Avigail (Hebrew), and Avigayil (Hebrew). The short forms Abi (Scottish) and Gaëlle (French) are other foreign variants. See also the related form, Gobnait (Irish). Abigail is very popular as a baby name for girls, and it is also regarded as fairly trendy. The name's popularity has been rising since the 1940s. At the peak of its usage in 2003, 0.795% of baby girls were named Abigail. It ranked at #6 then. In 2008, its usage was 0.725% and its ranking #8, and it was the most popular out of all girl names in its group. In 2008, 11 times more girls were named Abigail than the next most popular name, Abby (English and German). Baby names that sound like Abigail include Abbigail (English and German), Abigael (English), Abigaíl (Spanish), Abagael (English), Abagail (English), Abagale (English), Abageal (English), Abagil (English), Abbegail (English), Abbegale (English), Abbigale (English), Abbygail (English), Abbygale (English), Abegail (English and Spanish), Abigal (Dutch and English), Abigale (English), Abigall (English), Abigel (English), Abigil (English), and Avigail (Hebrew). Details of famous persons named Abigail: KEY: Pronunciation for Abigail: AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; B as in "be (B.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; G as in "green (G.R.IY.N)" ; EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)"   |
