# Abraham (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/abraham/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | “abraham”, “father is exalted.”, “father of”, “multitude of”, “abram” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈeɪ.bɹəˌhæm/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | Abe, Abey, Abie |
| Variant spellings | Avraham |
| US babies named this | 104,175 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 103,967 / 208 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 1,955, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Middle English Abraham, from Old English Abraham, from Late Latin Ābrahām, from Ancient Greek Ἀβρᾱᾱ́μ (Abrāā́m), from Hebrew אַבְרָהָם ('aḇrāhām, “Abraham”). Thomas L. Thompson suggests that the meaning of the name in Genesis was forgotten due to its age and that its original meaning was "Father is exalted." Glossed as אַב (aḇ, “father of”) + הֲמוֹן (hăˈmōn, “multitude of”) in Genesis 17:4–5; or from Hebrew אַבְרָם ('aḇrām, “Abram”). Doublet of Ibrahim, Avraham, Abramo, and Abrahan.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 9 | 8,809 |
| 1998 | 5 | 14,136 |
| 1999 | 8 | 10,354 |
| 2000 | 8 | 10,747 |
| 2001 | 5 | 15,370 |
| 2003 | 6 | 13,859 |
| 2004 | 7 | 12,771 |
| 2005 | 5 | 16,482 |
| 2008 | 5 | 17,529 |
| 2009 | 5 | 17,321 |
| 2012 | 5 | 16,897 |
| 2013 | 6 | 14,607 |
| 2014 | 10 | 10,137 |
| 2015 | 6 | 14,506 |
| 2017 | 5 | 15,931 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1,938 | 192 |
| 2012 | 1,954 | 191 |
| 2013 | 2,217 | 182 |
| 2014 | 2,382 | 181 |
| 2015 | 2,454 | 170 |
| 2016 | 2,584 | 157 |
| 2017 | 2,328 | 169 |
| 2018 | 2,373 | 163 |
| 2019 | 2,065 | 191 |
| 2020 | 1,900 | 201 |
| 2021 | 1,916 | 202 |
| 2022 | 1,843 | 203 |
| 2023 | 1,695 | 218 |
| 2024 | 1,737 | 204 |
| 2025 | 1,664 | 209 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 64 | 546 |
| 2012 | 59 | 592 |
| 2013 | 65 | 555 |
| 2014 | 83 | 475 |
| 2015 | 86 | 470 |
| 2016 | 82 | 493 |
| 2017 | 91 | 454 |
| 2018 | 77 | 504 |
| 2019 | 76 | 512 |
| 2020 | 86 | 456 |
| 2021 | 84 | 477 |
| 2022 | 82 | 485 |
| 2023 | 60 | 602 |
| 2024 | 63 | 602 |
| 2025 | 59 | 627 |

## In other languages

- Arabic: إِبْرَاهِيم, أَبْرَاهَام
- Armenian: Աբրահամ
- Bulgarian: Авра́м, Авраа́м, Ибрахи́м
- Catalan: Abraham
- Chinese: 亞伯拉罕 /亚伯拉罕
- Czech: Abraham
- Danish: Abraham
- Dutch: Abraham
- Esperanto: Abraham
- Estonian: Aabraham
- Finnish: Aapo
- French: Abraham
- Greek: Αβραάμ
- Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם, איברהים
- Hindi: अब्राहम, इब्राहीम
- Hungarian: Ábrahám
- Icelandic: Abraham
- Indonesian: Abraham, Ibrahim
- Italian: Abramo
- Japanese: エイブラハム, アブラハム, イブラヒム

## People named Abraham

- Albert Abraham Michelson, American physicist (1852–1931)
- Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (1908–1970)
- Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer, geographer and cosmographer (1527–1598)
- Abraham de Moivre, French mathematician (*1667 – †1754)
- Abraham in Islām, forefather of the Abrahamic religions from the Islamic perspective
- Abraham ibn Ezra, 12th-century Sephardic rabbi and astrologer
- Abraham Gottlob Werner, German geologist (1749-1817)
- Abraham Cowley, British writer (1618–1667)
- Abraham Wald, American mathematician, statistician, and scientist (1902–1950)
- Abraham ibn Daud, 12th century Spanish astronomer, historian and philosopher
- Abraham Bloemaert, Dutch painter (1566–1651)
- Abraham Pais, Dutch-American physicist and science historian (1918–2000)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.