Hebrew avi gayil, "my father is joy" — my father's joy. A wife of King David in the Hebrew Bible; a Puritan favourite carried to New England.
Abigail ranks 41st among American girls in 2025, with 4,941 born that year. Its best year was 2003, when 15,955 babies were given the name, ranking 6th. The typical living American called Abigail is about 20 years old today. It is relatively most common in Alaska, where it accounts for 0.51% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.