Abby

אֲבִיגַיִל

• Gender: Female
• Origin: Biblical English
• Meaning: father's joy

• Abby traces its roots back to the biblical Abigail, one of the wisest women in the Hebrew Bible. When King David was on the warpath, it was Abigail whose calm thinking and quick action saved her entire household from disaster. The rabbis held her up as a model of wisdom and resourcefulness, and that legacy gives this cheerful little name far more substance than it might first appear.

  Right at home with the current wave of nickname-as-given-name picks like Ellie, Edie, and Millie, Abby comes loaded with genuine depth. It sounds bright and approachable at every age and never feels like it needs a longer version to be taken seriously.

• Alternate Spellings: Abbie, Abbi
• Hebrew Equivalent:
  Avigail
• Potential Sibling Name:
  Eve
  ,
  Annie
  ,
  Nathan
  ,
  Danny
• Theme: family