Abigail (name)

Abigail is a female given name. The name comes from the Hebrew name אֲבִיגַיִל / אֲבִיגָיִל Avigail, meaning "my father's joy" (alternatively "my father is exultation", or "my father is joy").[1][2] It is also a surname.

For usage of the single name "Abigail", see Abigail (disambiguation).

Abigail

Pronunciation	/ˈæbɪɡeɪl/ AB-i-gayl
Gender	Female
Language(s)	Hebrew language
Other names
See also	Abby, Abbie, Abbey, Abi, Gail, Gayle, Gale

Abigail was the wife of King David in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Samuel, and is described as an intelligent, beautiful, loyal woman. The name can be shortened to "Abbey", "Abby", "Abbi", "Abbie", "Abi", "Abs", or "Aby", as well as "Gail", "Gayle", or "Big Gail", among others.

Translations

• Arabic: ابيجايل "Abigail" (Egypt) ابيغيل "Abighail" (other Arab countries).
• Bengali: এবিগেল (Ēbigēla)
• Biblical Greek: Abigaia
• Biblical Hebrew: אביגיל
• Bulgarian: Абигейл
• Catalan: Abigail
• Cantonese: 阿比基爾 (aa³ bei⁵ gei¹ ji⁵)
• Chinese Simplified: 阿比盖尔 (Ā bǐ gài ěr)
• Chinese Traditional:艾比蓋兒
• Danish: Abigail, Abigael
• Dutch: Abigail, Abigaïl
• Fijian:Apikali
• French: Abigaïl, Abigaël
• German: Abigail
• Gujarati: એબીગેઇલ (Ēbīgē'ila)
• Haitian Creole: Abigayèl
• Hawaiian: Apikalia, ʻApikaʻila
• Hebrew: אביגיל, Avigail, אֲבִיגָיִל (ʾĂḇîḡáyil)
• Hindi: सेविका (Sēvikā)
• Hungarian: Abigél
• Irish: Gobnait
• Italian: Abigaille
• Japanese: アビゲイル (Abigeiru)
• Korean: 아비가일
• Macedonian: Авигеја (Avigeja)
• Maori: Apikaira
• Mongolian: Ивээл (ᠢᠪᠡᠭᠡᠯ)
• Nepali: अबीगेलले (Abīgēlalē)
• Persian: آبیگل - ابیگیل - ابیگل
• Portuguese: Abigail
• Punjabi: ਅਬੀਗੈਲ (Abīgaila)
• Russian: Авиге́я (Avigeya); used predominantly in biblical contexts[3]
• Serbian: Абигејл (Abigejl) but in biblical context Ависага (Avisaga) is used
• Somali: Abiigayil
• Spanish: Abigaíl
• Swahili: Abigaeli
• Swedish: Abigail
• Ukrainian: Абіґейл
• Urdu: ابیگیل
• Yiddish: אַביגאַיל
• Yoruba: Ábígẹlì

People with the given name

• Abigail Adams née Smith (1744–1818), First Lady of the United States to President John Adams
• Avigail Alfatov (born 1996), Israeli national fencing champion, soldier, and Miss Israel 2014
• Abigail Binay (born 1975), Filipina politician
• Abigail Breslin (born 1996), American child actress
• Abbey Clancy (born 1986), English model
• Abbie Cornish (born 1982), Australian actress
• Abigail Cruttenden (born 1969), English television actress
• Abigail Conceição de Souza (1921–2007), Brazilian footballer
• Abigail Fillmore née Powers (1798–1853), First Lady of the United States to President Millard Fillmore
• Abigail Folger (1943–1969), American heiress and murder victim
• Abigail and Brittany Hensel (born 1990), American conjoined twins
• Abigail Campbell Kawānanakoa (1882–1945), Hawaiian princess
• Abigail Franks (c. 1696–1756), Colonial-era New York City Jewish woman and letter writer
• Abigail Kapiolani Kawānanakoa (1903–1961), Hawaiian princess
• Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa (born 1926), Hawaiian princess
• Abigail Maheha (1832–1861), Hawaiian princess
• Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham (c.1670–1734), British baroness
• Abigail (actress) aka Abigail Rogan (born 1946), Australian actress
• Abigail Seldin (born 1988), American edtech entrepreneur
• Abigail Adams Smith (1765–1813), first-born child of John Adams, President of the United States
• Abigail Spears (born 1981), American tennis player
• Abigail Spencer (born 1981), American actress
• Abigail Swann, American atmospheric scientist and ecologist
• Abi Titmuss (born 1976), British actress
• Abigail Goodrich Whittlesey (1788–1858), American educator, publisher, editor
• Abigail Williams (Salem witch trials) (1680–c.1697), a primary accuser in the Salem witch trials; portrayed in the Arthur Miller play The Crucible
• Abigail Rogers, (1818–1869) American advocate for women's rights and women's education
• Abigael Hamilton (1806–1879), Norwegian author and fairy-tale collector
• Abigael Tarus (born 1981), Kenyan volleyball player
• Abigael González Valencia (born 1972), Mexican suspected drug lord

Used as a pseudonym:

• Abigail Van Buren, pen name of Pauline Philips, pseudonymous author of the Dear Abby column

Fictional characters

• Abigail is a boss villain character in the Final Fight series, and most recently a playable character in the game Street Fighter V.
• Abigaille is the name of a character in Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco.
• Mother Abagail, the personification of good in Stephen King's novel The Stand
• Abigail Anderson, more frequently called Abby or Abs. is a playable character in Naughty Dog's videogame The Last of Us: Part II
• Abbey Bartlet, First Lady of the United States in American television series The West Wing
• Abigail Brand, Special Agent, commanding officer of S.W.O.R.D., that deals with defending the Earth from extraterrestrial threats
• Abby, 12-year-old vampire character in the 2010 film Let Me In.
• Abby Holland, DC Comics character
• Abigail Lincoln (aka Numbuh 5), a character from the animated series Codename: Kids Next Door
• Abby Lockhart, medical doctor in the American television series ER
• Abby Maitland, zoologist in the British television series Primeval
• Abby Sciuto, forensic scientist in the American television series NCIS
• Abigail Chase in National Treasure film franchise
• Abigail Deveraux, student in the American television soap opera Days of Our Lives
• Abigail Trant, a character from the 1991 film The Man in the Moon
• Abigail Stock, supporting character in the British television series Skins
• Abigail Williams, character in the American soap opera As the World Turns
• Abigail Bird, supporting character in the 1976–2000 American comic strip Motley's Crew
• Abigail Dixon, a student in the Australian mockumentary Summer Heights High who dies after overdosing on ecstasy
• Abigail Stevenson, in The Baby-sitters Club children's book series by Ann Martin
• Abigail Jane Stewart in Kristiana Gregory's The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart
• Dark Priest Abigail, in the Bastard!! Japanese manga/anime series
• Abigail, a character in the Acts of Faith trilogy by T. Davis Bunn and Janette Oke, wife of Stephen (St. Stephen)
• Abigail Zenobia, a daughter of Valentine Michael Smith and Anne in the 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land
• Princess Abigail, the haughty daughter of King Midas on the T.V show, Once Upon A Time
• Abigail Mills, character in Sleepy Hollow (TV series)
• Abi Branning, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders
• Abigail, one of the characters available for marriage in the farming simulation role-playing video game Stardew Valley
• Abigail, the name given by Jacksepticeye to the Irresponsible Mom's daughter in Happy Wheels.
• Abigaëlle, a character from the 2014 film Abigaëlle
• Abby Archer, the main protagonist of the YTV cartoon Grossology
• Abby Hatcher, the eponymous protagonist of the Guru Studio cartoon Abby Hatcher
• Abigail the Wind Fairy, a character from the Rainbow Magic book franchise
• Abigail Callaghan, a minor character from the Disney film Big Hero 6

People with the surname

• Francis Abigail (1840–1921), Australian politician
• Peter Abigail (born 1948), Australian army officer
• Robert Abigail (born 1981), Dutch DJ

See also

• Gilla (disambiguation)
• Avigayil, an Israeli settlement

References

Notes

1. Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford paperback reference. Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
2. from either the verbal root g-y-l "to rejoice" directly, or from the root noun gil "rejoicing, joy". Adele Berlin in: Carol L. Meyers, Toni Craven, Ross Shepard Kraemer (eds.), Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000, p. 43
3. Superanskaya, p. 250

Sources

• А. В. Суперанская (A. V. Superanskaya). "Современный словарь личных имён: Сравнение. Происхождение. Написание" (Modern Dictionary of First Names: Comparison. Origins. Spelling). Айрис-пресс. Москва, 2005. ISBN 5-8112-1399-9