Abby
Feminine name derived from the Hebrew name Abigail, meaning "father's joy".
Name Census estimates that about 58,293 living Americans carry the first name Abby. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Abby today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abby births was 2003 (2,048 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abby. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Abby with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Abby is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 181 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
58K
~ 1 in 5,880 Americans
Peak year
2003
2,048 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2009 SSA rank
#626
Tracked since 1880
Census
Abby in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 72,429 people with the first name Abby, which placed it at #709 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
#709
National first-name rank
People counted
72K
72,429 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
24.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abby
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abby is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.9%). 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 Abby 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 Abby at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.1% · 60,221
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 6,543
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 2,100
- Two or more races2.7% · 1,962
- Black or African American1.7% · 1,205
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 398
Gender
Gender distribution for Abby
Out of the 61,653 babies given the name Abby since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Abby as a male name
- Ranked #12,497 in 2009
- 5 male births in 2009
- Peak: 2004 (20 births)
Abby as a female name
- Ranked #626 in 2024
- 474 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (2,048 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abby appears almost entirely female. Of the 72,431 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Abby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abby from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 17,261 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
Abby 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 Abby during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abbys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Abby, while Hawaii, District of Columbia, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,143 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abby
The name Abby is a diminutive form of the biblical name Abigail, which is derived from the Hebrew words "av" meaning "father" and "gil" meaning "rejoice or joy." Abigail can be translated to mean "source of joy" or "father's joy." The name Abby likely originated as a nickname or pet name for Abigail in English-speaking cultures.
Abigail is a prominent figure in the Old Testament of the Bible, appearing in the Book of Samuel. She was a wise and beautiful woman who became the wife of King David. Her story is recounted in 1 Samuel 25, where she intervenes to prevent bloodshed between her husband Nabal and David's men.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Abby as a standalone name can be found in the 16th century. Abby Askew, an English Protestant martyr, was burned at the stake in 1546 for her religious beliefs during the reign of Queen Mary I.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Abby. These include Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (1874-1948), an American socialite and philanthropist who founded the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Abby Kelley Foster (1811-1887) was an American abolitionist and radical social reformer who worked tirelessly for the anti-slavery movement.
In the realm of literature, Abby Brewster is a character in Joseph Kesselring's 1941 dark comedy play "Arsenic and Old Lace." Abby Borden (1828-1892) was an American woman who was accused but ultimately acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother in the infamous Lizzie Borden case.
Another notable Abby was Abby May Alcott (1800-1877), the mother of renowned author Louisa May Alcott. She was an active participant in the Transcendentalist movement and a supporter of women's rights.
While the name Abby has ancient roots, it has remained a popular choice for baby girls throughout the centuries, likely due to its pleasant sound and association with the biblical Abigail.
People
Abby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abby 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
Abby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 58,293 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abby 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 5,880 US residents.
Is Abby a common name?
We classify Abby as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 61,653 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abby most popular?
The single biggest year for Abby was 2003, when 2,048 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abby is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abby in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 72,429 people with the name Abby, or 23.98 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #709 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 Abby 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 Abby?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abby appears almost entirely female. Of the 72,431 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Abby?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abby is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.9%). 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 Abby most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Abby in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.1% (60,221 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 Abby in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abby a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Abby 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 Abby still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abby 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 Abby 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 Americans are named Abby?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.