Abigail - Origin and Meaning of the name

The girl name Abigail [ 3 syll. a-bi-gai(l), ab-iga-il ] 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, the name was given to 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 36 variants that are used in both English and other languages. English variants of Abigail include Abagael, Abagail, Abaigael, Abaigeal, Abbe, Abbigale, Abbigayle, Abbye, Abbygail, Abegail (used in Spanish too), Abegayle, Abichail, Abigael, Abigale, Abigall, Abigayle, and Abigil. Other English forms include the short forms Gael, Gail, Gale, Gayel, Gayl, and Gayle, the pet forms Abbey (used in Irish too), Abbi, Abbie (used in Irish too), and Abby (used in German too), and the spelling variant Abbigail (used in German too).

Variants of Abigail used in other languages include Abiageal (Irish), Abigaíl (Spanish), Abigal (Dutch), 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 recent peak of its usage in 2003, 0.795% of baby girls were named Abigail. It ranked at #6 then. In 2007, its usage was 0.734% and its ranking #8, and it was the most popular out of all girl names in its group. In 2007, 10 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), Abbigale (English), Abbygail (English), Abegail (English and Spanish), Abigal (Dutch), Abigale (English), Abigall (English), Abigil (English), Avigail (Hebrew), Avigayil (Hebrew), Abaigael (English), Abbigayle (English), Abegayle (English), Abigayle (English), Abaigeal (English), and Apikalia (Hawaiian).

^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)"

Details of famous persons named Abigail:
Actress Abigail Breslin, born 14 April 1996, New York, New York.
U.S. First Lady Abigail Adams, born Abigail Smith, 11 November 1744 - 28 October 1818, Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Popularity Trend
for Abigail
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Abigail
in 2007