Abigail Forename
Approximately 552,359 people bear this name
Abigail Forename Definition:
A female name. Hebrew signifying ‘father of exultation or joy’; the name of the wife of Nabal and afterwards of David (I Sam XXV). It came into use in England in the 16th C and was common in the 17th C. From a character so named in Beaumont and Fletcher’s play The Scornful Lady (1616) it became a slang term for a lady’s maid and gradually went out of fashion, though it never became obsolete.
Read More About This ForenameAbigail Forename Distribution
| Place | Gender | Incidence | Frequency | Rank in Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | 100% | 162,145 | 1:1,095 | 189 |
| Ghana | 100% | 110,686 | 1:244 | 37 |
| United States | 100% | 51,829 | 1:6,995 | 877 |
| Mexico | 95% | 51,423 | 1:2,414 | 375 |
| Philippines | 99% | 25,013 | 1:4,238 | 724 |
| England | 100% | 22,827 | 1:2,436 | 373 |
| Brazil | 100% | 15,003 | 1:14,280 | 1,468 |
| Zimbabwe | 100% | 13,164 | 1:1,172 | 208 |
| South Africa | 100% | 10,280 | 1:5,305 | 1,015 |
| Colombia | 90% | 7,953 | 1:6,008 | 651 |
| Malawi | 100% | 7,361 | 1:2,325 | 441 |
| Israel | 100% | 6,566 | 1:1,280 | 280 |
| Kenya | 100% | 6,195 | 1:7,475 | 1,051 |
| Zambia | - | 5,606 | 1:2,828 | 473 |
| Sierra Leone | - | 4,918 | 1:1,441 | 297 |
| Chile | 100% | 3,406 | 1:5,169 | 518 |
| Venezuela | 100% | 3,293 | 1:9,172 | 1,009 |
| Bolivia | 100% | 3,084 | 1:3,438 | 618 |
| Spain | 100% | 2,938 | 1:15,837 | 1,017 |
| Peru | 97% | 2,764 | 1:11,502 | 1,219 |
| Guatemala | 57% | 2,356 | 1:6,837 | 736 |
| Angola | 100% | 1,620 | 1:16,646 | 1,564 |
| Canada | 100% | 1,549 | 1:21,390 | 1,889 |
| Panama | 100% | 1,431 | 1:2,730 | 539 |
| Australia | - | 1,417 | 1:9,638 | 930 |
| Costa Rica | 97% | 1,380 | 1:3,455 | 501 |
| Thailand | 99% | 1,361 | 1:51,481 | 5,459 |
| Liberia | 100% | 1,224 | 1:3,605 | 479 |
| Wales | 100% | 1,153 | 1:2,684 | 424 |
| Nicaragua | 97% | 1,126 | 1:5,345 | 749 |
| Dominican Republic | - | 1,118 | 1:9,330 | 1,116 |
| Ecuador | - | 1,066 | 1:16,629 | 1,072 |
| Chad | 100% | 989 | 1:13,750 | 2,154 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 100% | 972 | 1:1,401 | 266 |
| Indonesia | 100% | 951 | 1:271,255 | 24,265 |
| Scotland | 100% | 775 | 1:6,904 | 569 |
| Botswana | 100% | 765 | 1:2,855 | 508 |
| Saudi Arabia | - | 758 | 1:40,650 | 4,986 |
| El Salvador | - | 642 | 1:9,878 | 735 |
| Egypt | 50% | 629 | 1:146,106 | 5,938 |
| Netherlands | 100% | 620 | 1:27,261 | 2,328 |
| India | 100% | 619 | 1:1,962,646 | 103,046 |
| Cuba | - | 563 | 1:20,438 | 1,073 |
| Uganda | 100% | 557 | 1:73,531 | 3,784 |
| Malaysia | 98% | 508 | 1:59,941 | 4,745 |
| Namibia | - | 508 | 1:4,733 | 707 |
| Northern Ireland | 100% | 476 | 1:3,872 | 487 |
| Honduras | 100% | 455 | 1:19,379 | 1,433 |
| Malta | - | 455 | 1:944 | 210 |
| Argentina | 91% | 443 | 1:96,554 | 1,843 |
| Guyana | 100% | 428 | 1:1,783 | 340 |
| New Zealand | - | 420 | 1:10,800 | 1,116 |
| Togo | - | 412 | 1:17,571 | 2,429 |
| Suriname | 100% | 395 | 1:1,400 | 309 |
| Jamaica | - | 327 | 1:8,817 | 1,066 |
| Puerto Rico | - | 325 | 1:10,924 | 696 |
| Ireland | 100% | 289 | 1:16,068 | 909 |
| DR Congo | 100% | 267 | 1:276,508 | 11,222 |
| Cameroon | 100% | 256 | 1:84,416 | 4,669 |
| Portugal | - | 249 | 1:41,811 | 1,544 |
| Congo | 97% | 241 | 1:20,785 | 2,127 |
| France | 100% | 220 | 1:302,138 | 4,126 |
| Singapore | 100% | 207 | 1:30,372 | 5,856 |
| Czechia | 100% | 199 | 1:53,549 | 865 |
| Fiji | - | 173 | 1:5,158 | 1,243 |
| Germany | 100% | 155 | 1:623,728 | 5,993 |
| Romania | 100% | 141 | 1:142,213 | 5,589 |
| China | - | 135 | 1:10,118,932 | 59,646 |
| Swaziland | - | 128 | 1:10,158 | 1,360 |
| Curaçao | 100% | 126 | 1:1,237 | 342 |
| Papua New Guinea | 94% | 126 | 1:64,701 | 6,192 |
| Belize | 100% | 123 | 1:2,881 | 660 |
| Qatar | 100% | 118 | 1:20,081 | 2,951 |
| Bahamas | - | 107 | 1:3,732 | 672 |
| Solomon Islands | 100% | 107 | 1:5,430 | 662 |
| Grenada | 98% | 104 | 1:1,040 | 206 |
| Haiti | 100% | 98 | 1:109,459 | 6,021 |
| Belgium | 100% | 87 | 1:132,069 | 3,972 |
| Sweden | 100% | 85 | 1:115,975 | 4,765 |
| Tanzania | 100% | 85 | 1:621,039 | 16,056 |
| Bahrain | - | 74 | 1:18,225 | 2,605 |
| Uruguay | 100% | 72 | 1:47,606 | 1,770 |
| South Korea | 100% | 58 | 1:95,593 | 4,958 |
| Switzerland | 100% | 57 | 1:144,096 | 3,864 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | - | 55 | 1:1,807 | 380 |
| Burkina Faso | 100% | 44 | 1:417,715 | 15,019 |
| Japan | - | 42 | 1:3,047,287 | 23,072 |
| United Arab Emirates | - | 42 | 1:170,286 | 11,537 |
| Taiwan | 100% | 38 | 1:625,518 | 31,167 |
| Mozambique | - | 36 | 1:756,760 | 1,518 |
| Benin | 100% | 34 | 1:311,054 | 12,450 |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 100% | 34 | 1:3,282 | 615 |
| Denmark | - | 32 | 1:176,547 | 4,105 |
| Hong Kong | - | 30 | 1:258,424 | 3,493 |
| Saint Lucia | 100% | 30 | 1:5,927 | 952 |
| Norway | 100% | 28 | 1:183,297 | 4,750 |
| Paraguay | 91% | 28 | 1:258,457 | 3,654 |
| United States Virgin Islands | - | 28 | 1:3,920 | 684 |
| Northern Mariana Islands | - | 26 | 1:2,103 | 430 |
| Italy | 99% | 23 | 1:2,654,873 | 16,754 |
| Aruba | - | 21 | 1:4,942 | 942 |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 100% | 21 | 1:2,612 | 559 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | 100% | 20 | 1:9,600 | 1,169 |
| Cape Verde | - | 19 | 1:27,850 | 1,736 |
| Cayman Islands | - | 19 | 1:3,226 | 656 |
| Russia | 100% | 19 | 1:7,591,248 | 31,825 |
| Barbados | - | 18 | 1:16,099 | 1,338 |
| Gibraltar | - | 18 | 1:1,897 | 362 |
| Ivory Coast | 100% | 17 | 1:1,357,408 | 36,328 |
| Ethiopia | - | 16 | 1:6,097,508 | 12,067 |
| French Polynesia | - | 16 | 1:17,369 | 1,803 |
| Afghanistan | 80% | 14 | 1:2,330,251 | 19,281 |
| Guam | - | 14 | 1:11,475 | 1,503 |
| Luxembourg | 100% | 14 | 1:40,289 | 1,746 |
| Bermuda | - | 13 | 1:4,987 | 816 |
| Jersey | 100% | 13 | 1:7,691 | 755 |
| Vietnam | - | 11 | 1:8,420,283 | 3,954 |
| Iceland | 100% | 9 | 1:40,669 | 2,415 |
| Rwanda | - | 9 | 1:1,263,493 | 1,939 |
| Sudan | - | 9 | 1:4,200,775 | 4,893 |
| Vanuatu | - | 9 | 1:29,088 | 709 |
| Austria | 100% | 8 | 1:1,064,275 | 7,469 |
| Cyprus | - | 7 | 1:124,439 | 3,136 |
| Hungary | 100% | 7 | 1:1,398,824 | 3,444 |
| Lesotho | - | 7 | 1:291,428 | 17,845 |
| American Samoa | - | 6 | 1:9,308 | 1,982 |
| Pakistan | 91% | 6 | 1:32,392,947 | 130,865 |
| Finland | 100% | 5 | 1:1,096,637 | 9,775 |
| Lebanon | 100% | 5 | 1:1,125,514 | 9,179 |
| Cambodia | - | 4 | 1:4,068,332 | 35,322 |
| Faroe Islands | 100% | 4 | 1:12,282 | 1,318 |
| Gambia | - | 4 | 1:481,649 | 818 |
| Guernsey | - | 4 | 1:15,833 | 609 |
| Jordan | 83% | 4 | 1:2,206,694 | 7,695 |
| Mali | 100% | 4 | 1:4,244,439 | 5,329 |
| Mauritius | - | 4 | 1:324,446 | 5,754 |
| Monaco | 100% | 4 | 1:9,616 | 1,312 |
| Morocco | - | 4 | 1:8,587,159 | 11,086 |
| New Caledonia | 100% | 4 | 1:67,541 | 2,087 |
| Niger | 100% | 4 | 1:4,795,998 | 43,246 |
| Poland | 95% | 4 | 1:9,506,778 | 5,827 |
| Sri Lanka | - | 4 | 1:5,199,772 | 10,550 |
| Isle of Man | 100% | 3 | 1:28,341 | 386 |
| Macau | - | 3 | 1:202,736 | 1,370 |
| Moldova | - | 3 | 1:1,187,046 | 5,200 |
| Algeria | - | 2 | 1:19,088,360 | 22,377 |
| Anguilla | 100% | 2 | 1:6,628 | 945 |
| Belarus | 50% | 2 | 1:4,741,192 | 16,466 |
| Brunei | - | 2 | 1:209,785 | 2,478 |
| Georgia | - | 2 | 1:1,869,233 | 20,119 |
| Nepal | - | 2 | 1:14,243,676 | 86,069 |
| Turkey | 100% | 2 | 1:38,900,854 | 64,839 |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | - | 2 | 1:17,354 | 1,059 |
| Albania | 100% | 1 | 1:3,046,570 | 49,159 |
| Bangladesh | - | 1 | 1:159,461,366 | 36,167 |
| British Virgin Islands | - | 1 | 1:31,250 | 1,787 |
| Cook Islands | - | 1 | 1:18,153 | 1,349 |
| Dominica | - | 1 | 1:75,471 | 1,341 |
| Greece | 100% | 1 | 1:10,934,548 | 22,228 |
| Greenland | - | 1 | 1:56,371 | 1,395 |
| Guinea | - | 1 | 1:11,858,647 | 7,978 |
| Kazakhstan | 100% | 1 | 1:17,746,845 | 44,366 |
| Kuwait | - | 1 | 1:3,785,264 | 15,388 |
| Latvia | - | 1 | 1:2,015,645 | 6,531 |
| Lithuania | - | 1 | 1:2,951,882 | 5,377 |
| Madagascar | - | 1 | 1:23,629,408 | 6,628 |
| Maldives | - | 1 | 1:433,903 | 5,827 |
| Micronesia | - | 1 | 1:106,500 | 1,462 |
| Mongolia | - | 1 | 1:2,934,814 | 16,205 |
| Myanmar | - | 1 | 1:51,948,273 | 3,226 |
| Nauru | 100% | 1 | 1:11,927 | 903 |
| Northern Cyprus | - | 1 | 1:318,133 | 3,044 |
| Oman | - | 1 | 1:4,108,667 | 12,526 |
| Palestine | 100% | 1 | 1:4,550,058 | 5,739 |
| Samoa | - | 1 | 1:195,190 | 1,348 |
| Senegal | 100% | 1 | 1:14,581,356 | 34,505 |
| Seychelles | - | 1 | 1:92,670 | 1,891 |
| Slovakia | - | 1 | 1:5,310,063 | 9,949 |
| Syria | - | 1 | 1:19,306,075 | 9,560 |
| Turkmenistan | - | 1 | 1:5,472,870 | 3,925 |
| Ukraine | - | 1 | 1:45,499,908 | 32,056 |
The alternate forms: Abigaïl (55), Abigaíl (27), Abigaîl (2), Abígail (1) & Àbigail (1) are calculated separately.
Abigail (4,066) may also be a surname.
Abigail Forename Meaning
From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history
A female name. Hebrew signifying ‘father of exultation or joy’; the name of the wife of Nabal and afterwards of David (I Sam XXV). It came into use in England in the 16th C and was common in the 17th C. From a character so named in Beaumont and Fletcher’s play The Scornful Lady (1616) it became a slang term for a lady’s maid and gradually went out of fashion, though it never became obsolete. Charlotte Mary Yonge, History of ChristianNames, 2 vols. 1863. Revised ed. 1884 suggests that it may also have suffered through being the name of Queen Anne’s unpopular favourite, Mrs Masham. In Ireland it was formerly used as an equivalent of the native Celtic name Gobnail. Abbey was the usual abbreviation of it.
Likewise rare, this Biblical name (‘father of joy,’ says Charlotte Yonge; ‘a father’s joy,’ says Helena Swan) occurred in English registers from ca. 1570 and was for many years a frequent one for girls, perhaps because of the original’s prompt courtesy to David. Since ca. 1615, it has been much used as a colloquialism for a waiting-maid: probably because of the frequency of the phrase ‘thine handmaid’ self-applied in chapter 25 of the First Book of Samuel. See also my Dictionary of Unconventional English.
Hebrew (feminine) - The father’s joy.
Ab'-e-gal, the joy of the father. 1. The sister of David. 1 Chron. ii. 16. 2. The wife of Nabal; 1 Sam. xxv. 3; afterwards married to David. 1 Sam. xxv. 42. A. M. 2944.
Meaning: father of joy: father of a heap (or “billow”) in 2 Sam. 17: 25.
A Arabic name, meaning: Father’s joy. (Hebrew) Father [source] of joy: my father is joy.
Abigail Forename Popularity
Abigail Demographics
Abigail Political Affiliation
in United States
United States
Average
Phonetically Similar Names
Abigail Name Transliterations
| Transliteration | ICU Latin | Percentage of Incidence |
|---|---|---|
| Abigail in the Russian language | ||
| Абигаил | abigail | - |
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Footnotes
- First names are taken from the first part of an person's personal name. That is, not their inherited name(s), i.e. their surname(s). The first name includes particles, but not middle names
- Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
- Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
- Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
- Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
- Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
- Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Abigail