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Abigail (name)

female given name

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ2769157
Source-derived summary

Abigail is a feminine given name. The name comes from the Biblical Hebrew: אֲבִיגַיִל / אֲבִיגָיִל ʾĂḇīḡayīl, meaning "my father's joy" (alternatively "my father is exulted" or "my father is joyful", among others). It is also a surname.

The name can be shortened to Abbey, Abby, Abbie, Abbi, Abi, or Aby, as well as Gail and Gayle, among others.

Translations

People

Biblical figures

Abigail is the wife of King David in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Samuel, and is described as an intelligent, beautiful, loyal woman.

Abigail is the mother of Amasa, the commander-in-chief of Absalom's army (2 Samuel 17:25).

Fictional characters

Mother Abagail, the personification of good in Stephen King's novel The Stand

Abbey Bartlet, the First Lady of the United States in the television drama The West Wing

Abigail Brand, Special Agent, commanding officer of S.W.O.R.D., that deals with defending the Earth from extraterrestrial threats

Abi Branning, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders

Abigail Deveraux, student in the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives

Abby Holland, DC Comics character

Abigail "Abby" Jensen, in the 2010 film 16 Wishes

Abigail Lincoln, aka Numbuh 5 in the animated series Codename: Kids Next Door

Abby Lockhart, medical doctor in the television drama ER

Abby Maitland, zoologist in the British television series Primeval

Abigail Roberts, the name of John Marston's wife in Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2

Abigail Scanlan, one of the main protagonists in the ABC Family film, Revenge of the Bridesmaids, played by Raven-Symoné

Abby Sciuto, forensic scientist in the television drama NCIS

Abigail Stock, a supporting character in the British television series Skins

Abigail Williams, character in the CBS soap opera As the World Turns

Abigail the Breeze Fairy, from Rainbow Magic

People with the surname

Francis Abigail (1840–1921), Australian politician

Peter Abigail (born 1948), Australian army officer

Robert Abigail (born 1980), Dutch DJ

See also

All pages with titles containing Avigail

Gilla (disambiguation)

Avigayil, an Israeli settlement

References

Notes

Sources

А. В. Суперанская (A. V. Superanskaya). "Современный словарь личных имён: Сравнение. Происхождение. Написание" (Modern Dictionary of First Names: Comparison.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Abigail (name)” as female given name. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2010, 1840, 1921, 1948—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Abigail, name and female can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as female given name. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2769157. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2010, 1840, 1921 and 1948.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Abigail (name)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.