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Boy · Hebrew
Abraham
Say it: AY-bruh-ham
Meaning
His earlier name Abram means 'the father is exalted'. Genesis 17:5 explains Abraham as 'father of a multitude', a wordplay rather than a literal etymology.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Long used by Jewish families and common among Puritans and in 19th-century America.
Its wave through time
A revival, back after decades away
In the United States
- 95,220 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 2016, about 1 in 734 boys
- 1,875 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Abram
| French | Abraham |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Abraham |
| Italian | Abramo |
| Portuguese | Abraão |
| German | Abraham |
| Polish | Abraham |
| Russian | Avraam |
| Hebrew | Avraham |
Famous bearers
- Abraham, patriarch of Genesis
- Abraham Lincoln, US president
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Puritan church and town records of England and New England
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- Colonial records of the Americas
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.