Abbie
A diminutive of Abigail, of Hebrew origin meaning "father's joy".
Name Census estimates that about 15,470 living Americans carry the first name Abbie. It is a predominantly female name (98.5% of registrations). The average person named Abbie today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abbie births was 2003 (537 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abbie. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Abbie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Abbie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 330 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 22,156 Americans
Peak year
2003
537 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
1959 SSA rank
#1,617
Tracked since 1880
Census
Abbie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 16,373 people with the first name Abbie, which placed it at #1,809 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,809
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
16,373 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abbie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abbie is White at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Black (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Abbie described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Abbie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.2% · 13,619
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 1,030
- Black or African American4.2% · 685
- Two or more races2.9% · 478
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 445
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 116
Gender
Gender distribution for Abbie
Abbie leans heavily female at 98.5% of total registrations, but 330 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Abbie as a male name
- Ranked #3,037 in 1959
- 8 male births in 1959
- Peak: 1930 (16 births)
Abbie as a female name
- Ranked #1,617 in 2024
- 128 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (537 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abbie appears almost entirely female. Of the 16,365 people counted with this name, 99.0% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Abbie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abbie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 4,635 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abbie by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Abbie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abbies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Abbie, while Hawaii, Connecticut, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 317 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abbie
The given name Abbie is an English diminutive form of the name Abigail, which has its origins in the Hebrew language. The name Abigail is derived from the Hebrew words "avi" meaning "father" and "gil" meaning "rejoice" or "cause of joy." Thus, the name Abigail, and its shortened version Abbie, can be interpreted to mean "a father's joy" or "source of joy."
The name Abigail is found in the Hebrew Bible, where it is borne by the wise and beautiful wife of a wealthy man named Nabal. Abigail's prudence and diplomacy prevented her husband from offending King David, and after Nabal's death, she became one of David's wives. This biblical figure is believed to have lived around the 11th century BCE.
Throughout history, the name Abbie has been used in various contexts and cultures. One notable example is Abbie Benton, an American educator and advocate for women's rights, who lived from 1785 to 1841. She was a pioneer in the field of education and helped establish several schools for girls in Connecticut.
Another notable figure with the name Abbie is Abbie Hoffman, an American political and social activist who was a prominent figure in the counterculture movement of the 1960s. He was born in 1936 and gained notoriety for his involvement in the Chicago Seven trial, where he and others were charged with conspiracy and inciting riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
In the realm of literature, Abbie Huston Evans was an American author and journalist who lived from 1882 to 1975. She wrote several novels and short stories, as well as articles on various topics related to the American South.
A more contemporary figure with the name Abbie is Abbie Cornish, an Australian actress and rapper born in 1982. She has appeared in numerous films, including "Candy," "Bright Star," and "Sucker Punch," and has received critical acclaim for her performances.
Lastly, Abbie Hoffman was an American actress and singer who lived from 1913 to 1989. She had a successful career on Broadway and in films, and is best known for her roles in musicals such as "The Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Abbie, a diminutive form of the Hebrew name Abigail, which has its roots in the ancient traditions and scriptures of the Jewish faith.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Abbie
People
Abbie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abbie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Abbie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abbie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,470 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abbie going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 22,156 US residents.
Is Abbie a common name?
We classify Abbie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,431 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abbie most popular?
The single biggest year for Abbie was 2003, when 537 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abbie is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abbie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 16,373 people with the name Abbie, or 5.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,809 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Abbie in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Abbie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abbie appears almost entirely female. Of the 16,365 people counted with this name, 99.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Abbie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abbie is White at 83.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Black (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Abbie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Abbie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.2% (13,619 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Abbie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abbie a female name?
Yes, 98.5% of people registered as Abbie in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Abbie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abbie in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Abbie can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Abbie?
See how many people share the name Abbie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.