Abner
A Hebrew masculine name meaning "my father is a light".
Name Census estimates that about 6,465 living Americans carry the first name Abner. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Abner today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abner births was 2024 (293 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abner. 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 Abner with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.5K
~ 1 in 53,017 Americans
Peak year
2024
293 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#837
Tracked since 1880
Census
Abner in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,454 people with the first name Abner, which placed it at #3,003 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
#3,003
National first-name rank
People counted
7.5K
7,454 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
65.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Abner
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abner is Hispanic at 65.6%. The next largest groups are White (19.4%) and Black (8.2%). 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 Abner 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 Abner at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino65.6% · 4,892
- White19.4% · 1,448
- Black or African American8.2% · 609
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 397
- Two or more races1.0% · 72
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 36
Popularity
Abner: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abner from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,861 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Abner remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abner 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 Abner during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Abners live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Abner, while Utah, Oregon, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 144 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Abner
The name Abner is of Hebrew origin, derived from the Hebrew words "av" meaning "father" and "ner" meaning "light" or "lamp". It was a relatively common name in ancient Israel, believed to have been popular as early as the 11th century BCE.
One of the earliest and most notable references to the name Abner is found in the Old Testament of the Bible. Abner was a cousin of King Saul and the commander of his army. He played a pivotal role in establishing David as the successor to Saul's throne, although he was later killed by Joab, one of David's generals.
Another historical figure named Abner was a Jewish leader during the Hasmonean period, around the 2nd century BCE. He was one of the leading figures in the revolt against the Seleucid Empire and played a role in the establishment of an independent Jewish state.
In the Middle Ages, Abner was a relatively common name among Jewish communities in Europe. One notable bearer of the name was Abner of Burgos, a Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet who lived in the 14th century. He was known for his works on Jewish mysticism and his polemics against Christianity.
During the Renaissance period, Abner was a name adopted by some Christians, particularly in England and Scotland. One notable figure was Abner Coe (1619-1707), a Scottish Presbyterian minister and author who was influential in the religious and political affairs of his time.
In the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the name Abner was Abner Doubleday (1819-1893), a Union Army officer during the American Civil War who is often credited with inventing the game of baseball, although this claim is disputed.
Other notable individuals named Abner throughout history include:
1. Abner Coburn (1803-1885), an American businessman and politician who served as the 30th Governor of Maine.
2. Abner Kneeland (1774-1844), an American free-thinker and writer who was convicted of blasphemy in 1838.
3. Abner Doubleday (1819-1893), a Union Army officer during the American Civil War, often credited with inventing the game of baseball.
4. Abner W. Sibal (1870-1953), an American jurist and politician who served as the 10th Governor of Wisconsin.
5. Abner M. Shiple (1835-1898), a Union Army officer during the American Civil War and later a U.S. Representative from Illinois.
People
Abner + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abner 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
Abner: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abner?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,465 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abner 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 53,017 US residents.
Is Abner a common name?
We classify Abner as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,178 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abner most popular?
The single biggest year for Abner was 2024, when 293 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abner is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Abner in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,454 people with the name Abner, or 2.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,003 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 Abner 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 Abner?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Abner appears almost entirely male. Of the 7,461 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Abner?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Abner is Hispanic at 65.6%. The next largest groups are White (19.4%) and Black (8.2%). 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 Abner most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Abner in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.6% (4,892 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 Abner in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abner a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Abner in the SSA data are male. 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 Abner still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abner 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 Abner 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 people are named Abner?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.