Abigail (name)

Abigail
Pronunciation	/ˈæbᵻɡeɪl/ AB-i-gayl
Gender	Female
Language(s)	Hebrew language
Other names
See also	Abby, Abbie, Abbey, Abi, [Gail (disambiguation)

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] This name is becoming increasingly more popular in the U.S. in 2015.

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

Translations

• Arabic: الوصيفة
• Bengali: এবিগেল (Ēbigēla)
• Biblical Greek: Abigaia
• Biblical Hebrew: אביגיל
• Catalan: Abigail
• Cantonese: 阿比基爾 (aa³ bei⁵ gei¹ ji⁵)
• Chinese Simplified: 阿比盖尔 (Ā bǐ gài ěr)
• Chinese Traditional: 阿比該
• Danish: Abigail, Abigael
• Dutch: Abigail, Abigaïl
• English: Abegail, Abigayle
• 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
• Italian: Abigaille
• Japanese: アビゲイル (Abigeiru)
• Korean: 아비가일
• Macedonian: Авигеја (Avigeja)
• Maori: Apikaira
• Nepali: अबीगेलले (Abīgēlalē)
• Persian: آبیگل - ابیگیل - ابیگل
• Portuguese: Abigail
• Punjabi: ਅਬੀਗੈਲ (Abīgaila)
• Russian: Авиге́я (Avigeya); used predominantly in biblical contexts^[2]
• Serbian: Абигејл (Abigejl)
• Somali: Abiigayil
• Spanish: Abigaíl
• Swedish: Abigail
• Ukrainian: Абіґейл
• Urdu: ابیگیل
• Yiddish: אַביגאַיל
• Yoruba: Ábígẹlì

People with the given name Abigail

• Abigail Adams née Smith (1744–1818), First Lady of the United States to President John Adams
• 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 Kapiolani Kawānanakoa (1903–1961), Hawaiian princess
• Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa (born 1926), Hawaiian princess
• Abigail Maheha (1832–after 1846), Hawaiian princess
• Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham (c.1670–1734), British baroness
• Abigail (actress) aka Abigail Rogan (born 1946), Australian actress
• Abigail Adams Smith (1765–1813), first-born child of John Adams, President of the United States
• Abigail Spears (born 1981), American tennis player
• Abi Titmuss (born 1976), British actress
• Abigail Williams (Salem witch trials) (1680–c.1697), a primary accuser in the Salem witch trials; portrayed in the Arthur Miller play The Crucible

Used as a pseudonym:

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

Fictional characters

• 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
• 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 (As the World Turns), 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 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)

See also

• Gilla (disambiguation)
• Avigayil, an Israeli settlement

References

Notes

1. 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
2. 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