MEANING & HISTORY
What does Abigail mean?
Abigail comes from Hebrew Avigayil, combining words for father and joy. The traditional interpretation is my father is joy, a sentence-like personal name rather than a direct adjective meaning cheerful.
In the Bible Abigail becomes one of David’s wives after Nabal’s death. That narrative identifies a major historical religious association, while the meaning itself rests on the Hebrew elements. Later English literary uses do not replace that original formation.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Tagalog
- /ˈʔabiɡejl/Standard-Tagalog
- [ˌʔaː.bɪˈɣ̠eɪ̯l]Standard-Tagalog
A · bi · gail3 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
TagalogEtymology & source
Borrowed from English Abigail, from Hebrew אֲבִיגַיִל (avigáyil, “Abigail”, literally “my Father's joy” or “fountain of joy”).
a female given name from English
Wiktionary: Abigail (Tagalog) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
EnglishEtymology & source
From Hebrew אֲבִיגַיִל (avigáyil, “Abigail”, literally “my Father's joy” or “fountain of joy”).
A female given name from Hebrew, used since the 16th century, and currently quite popular.
Wiktionary: Abigail (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Abigail
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Abigail Binay
Philippine politician
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Abigail Valte
Philippine politician
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
5
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Abigail Binay, Abigail Valte
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Abigail in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Related forms & spellings
Related forms may have their own language histories. They are not included in this spelling’s PSA count.
Similar names to Abigail
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Avigail·My father is joy
- Gail♀Short form of Abigail
- Abbas♂One who frowns; a figurative lion-name
- Abdul♂Arabic name element meaning servant of the…
- Abel♂Breath; vapour
- Abing♀Isabel with the familiar ending ing
- Abundio·Abundant or plentiful
- Mikhail♂Russian form of Michael
What rhymes with Abigail?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Abigail further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q2769157 — Abigail (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Abigail Binay (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q2769157 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Abigail Valte (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q2769157 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Abigail (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Abigail (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Abigail (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.