Abigail f
Biblical: name (meaning ‘father of exaltation’ in Hebrew) borne by one of King David's wives, who had earlier been married to Nabal (I Samuel 25: 3), and by the mother of Absalom's captain Amasa (2 Samuel 1: 25). The name was popular in the 17th century under Puritan influence. It was a common name in literature for a lady's maid, for example in Beaumont and Fletcher's play The Scornful Lady (1616), partly no doubt because the biblical Abigail refers to herself as ‘thy servant’. In Ireland this name has traditionally been used as an Anglicized form of GOBNAIT (SEE Gobnait), although the reasons for this are not clear.
Pet forms: English, Irish: Abbie, Abbey.
First names dictionary. 2012.