Abagayle
Father's joy, variant of the Hebrew name Abigail.
Name Census estimates that about 340 living Americans carry the first name Abagayle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Abagayle today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abagayle births was 1999 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abagayle. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
340
~ 1 in 1,008,101 Americans
Peak year
1999
31 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2017 SSA rank
#15,918
Tracked since 1995
Census
Abagayle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 303 people with the first name Abagayle, which placed it at #29,290 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#29,290
National first-name rank
People counted
303
303 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abagayle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abagayle is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Abagayle described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Abagayle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.8% · 269
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 17
- Two or more races4.6% · 14
- Black or African American0.7% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Popularity
Abagayle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abagayle from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 217 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abagayle by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Abagayle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abagayles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Abagayle
The name Abagayle is a variant of the Hebrew name Abigail, which means "father's joy" or "source of joy." It is derived from the Hebrew words "av" meaning "father" and "gil" meaning "joy" or "rejoicing." The name has its roots in the Old Testament and is associated with the biblical character Abigail, who was known for her wisdom and diplomacy.
The earliest recorded use of the name Abagayle can be traced back to the late Middle Ages in England, where it was a variant of the more common spelling Abigail. During this time, spellings of names were often inconsistent, leading to various regional variations.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Abagayle was Abagayle Swayne, an English noblewoman who lived in the late 15th century. She was a prominent landowner in Dorset and played a significant role in local affairs.
In the 17th century, Abagayle Woodcock, a Puritan settler in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was one of the first recorded individuals with this name in the American colonies. She was born in England around 1620 and immigrated to New England with her family.
Another notable figure was Abagayle Sanderson, an English Quaker minister and author who lived from 1660 to 1730. She wrote several religious works and was known for her preaching and advocacy for Quaker beliefs.
In the 18th century, Abagayle Cleaver was a British philanthropist and social reformer, born in 1745. She was actively involved in promoting education and improving the living conditions of the poor in her community.
During the 19th century, Abagayle Emerson, an American author and poet, gained recognition for her works. She was born in 1820 in Massachusetts and published several collections of poetry and prose.
While the name Abagayle has been used throughout history, it remained relatively uncommon until more recent times. Its popularity has fluctuated over the centuries, but it continues to be a unique and meaningful choice for parents seeking a name with biblical and historical significance.
People
Abagayle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abagayle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Abagayle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abagayle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 340 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abagayle going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,008,101 US residents.
Is Abagayle a common name?
We classify Abagayle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 346 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abagayle most popular?
The single biggest year for Abagayle was 1999, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abagayle is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abagayle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 303 people with the name Abagayle, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,290 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Abagayle in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Abagayle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abagayle leans strongly female. 305 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Abagayle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abagayle is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Abagayle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Abagayle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.8% (269 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Abagayle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abagayle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abagayle in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Abagayle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abagayle in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Abagayle can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Abagayle as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.