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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Girl's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady

AvigailIn Hebrew: אביגיל · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: אֲבִיגַיִלRomanization: avigáyil

Avigail (Hebrew: אביגיל) is a girl's name of biblical origin. 25,912 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 1,437 girls and ranked #1. Its peak year was 2024, with 1,437 babies.

People in Israel
25,912
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
1,437
rank #1
Peak year
2024
1,437 babies
USA, 2025
88
rank #2,117

Writing and saying Avigail

In Hebrew letters the name is אביגיל, read right to left. Avigail is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "avigáyil" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • Abigail (the wife of Nabal and later of David in the Old Testament)
  • a female given name, equivalent to English Abigail
From אָבִי ('aví, “my father”) + גִּיל (gíl, “joy”).

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

Avigail by year: Israel and abroad

How many girls out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

Avigail: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Avigail in English-speaking countries

Avigail in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States202588#2,1172016 (116)

Counts for girls. The Hebrew page for Avigail has every year and the other spellings.

Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.

Questions about Avigail

How do you write Avigail in Hebrew?

Avigail is written אביגיל in Hebrew (with vowel points: אֲבִיגַיִל). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "avigáyil".

How many people in Israel are named Avigail?

25,912 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name אביגיל: 25,912 women and 0 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

Is Avigail a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a girl's name: 100.0% of the people named אביגיל are women.

What does the name Avigail mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "Abigail (the wife of Nabal and later of David in the Old Testament)" Etymology: From אָבִי ('aví, “my father”) + גִּיל (gíl, “joy”).

Is Avigail used outside Israel?

The name Avigail appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 88 girls were given it in 2025 (#2,117), per the Social Security Administration.

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.