Abbigal
A feminine name derived from Hebrew, meaning "source of joy".
Name Census estimates that about 156 living Americans carry the first name Abbigal. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Abbigal today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abbigal births was 2005 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abbigal. 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
156
~ 1 in 2,197,143 Americans
Peak year
2005
14 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2015 SSA rank
#10,870
Tracked since 1995
Census
Abbigal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 271 people with the first name Abbigal, which placed it at #31,559 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
#31,559
National first-name rank
People counted
271
271 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abbigal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abbigal is White at 81.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Abbigal 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 Abbigal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.9% · 222
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 34
- Two or more races4.8% · 13
- Black or African American0.4% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Abbigal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abbigal 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 89 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Abbigal remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abbigal 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 Abbigal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abbigal
The name Abbigal is a variation of the Hebrew name Abigail, derived from the biblical figure Abigail, the wife of Nabal and later of King David. The name Abigail is composed of two Hebrew elements: "av," meaning "father," and "gil," meaning "rejoice" or "give joy." Together, the name can be interpreted as "father's joy" or "source of joy."
In the Old Testament, Abigail is introduced in 1 Samuel 25 as a woman of great wisdom and virtue. She intervened to prevent her husband Nabal from offending David and his men, ultimately saving her household from harm. After Nabal's death, Abigail became one of David's wives and bore him a son named Chileab or Daniel.
The name Abbigal emerged as a variant spelling, likely influenced by regional dialects and linguistic changes over time. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Abbigal can be found in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Bury St. Edmunds, England, dating back to the late 16th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Abbigal or its variations. Abbigal Bray (1635-1689) was an English Quaker minister and writer who published several works advocating for religious tolerance and women's rights. Abbigal Adams (1744-1818), the wife of John Adams, the second President of the United States, was an influential figure in her own right, known for her intelligence, wit, and advocacy for women's education.
Abbigal Becker (1801-1877) was a British artist and illustrator renowned for her detailed botanical illustrations. Abbigal Washburn (1820-1889) was an American writer and educator who advocated for women's rights and was one of the founders of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Abbigal Rockefeller (1888-1948), the daughter of John D. Rockefeller, was a prominent philanthropist and supporter of various educational and cultural institutions.
While the name Abbigal has its roots in the Hebrew tradition, it has been embraced across various cultures and regions, sometimes with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation. The name continues to carry the connotation of joy and delight, reflecting the enduring appeal of its biblical origins.
People
Abbigal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abbigal 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
Abbigal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abbigal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abbigal 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 2,197,143 US residents.
Is Abbigal a common name?
We classify Abbigal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 158 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abbigal most popular?
The single biggest year for Abbigal was 2005, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abbigal is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abbigal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 271 people with the name Abbigal, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,559 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 Abbigal 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 Abbigal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abbigal appears almost entirely female. Of the 280 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Abbigal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abbigal is White at 81.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Abbigal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Abbigal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.9% (222 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 Abbigal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abbigal a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abbigal 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 Abbigal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abbigal 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 Abbigal 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 are named Abbigal?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.