Thirty years of Abigail
Abigail in numbers
Abigail peaked in 2004 with 2,643 girls and has fallen since, to 283 in 2025. Its biggest three-year fall came between 2004 and 2007, from 2,643 to 2,013. It ranked 21st in 1996, reached 19th in 2000 and ranks 171st now. On average it was given to 2,512 girls a year in the late 1990s, 2,236 in the 2000s, 1,107 in the 2010s and 410 in the 2020s so far.
† Shapes, averages and turning points are Baby Data calculations from the ONS counts.
Similar spellings in the 2025 list†: Abigael (6). Matched by their letters, not by meaning or origin. ONS counts each spelling separately, so these are not added to Abigail.
Milestones
First year in each bandChange
- On last year-15%331 to 283
- 5 years-52%586 to 283
- 10 years-75%1,131 to 283
- 20 years-89%2,461 to 283
- Since 1996-89%2,595 to 283
- Total, 1996 to 202545,941girls
† All changes and totals are Baby Data calculations from ONS counts. A total adds only the published years.
Across the three nations, 2025
Each from its own statistics office, never added togetherRank 171 · ONS · 331 in 2024
Rank 157 · NRS · 42 in 2024
Rank 96 · NISRA · 26 in 2024
England and Wales (ONS) count births in the calendar year; Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland (NISRA) count births registered in the year. Each comes from its own statistics office and they are never added together.
Year by year, 1996 to 2025 Show all 30 yearsHide the table
| Year | Rank | Babies | Change† | 1 in X† |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 171 | 283 | -15% | 1 in 1,006 |
| 2024 | 154 | 331 | -11% | 1 in 875 |
| 2023 | 134 | 373 | -5% | 1 in 772 |
| 2022 | 128 | 393 | -20% | 1 in 750 |
| 2021 | 105 | 494 | -16% | 1 in 617 |
| 2020 | 87 | 586 | -8% | 1 in 511 |
| 2019 | 83 | 634 | -8% | 1 in 491 |
| 2018 | 77 | 690 | -12% | 1 in 463 |
| 2017 | 73 | 782 | -24% | 1 in 423 |
| 2016 | 58 | 1,023 | -10% | 1 in 332 |
| 2015 | 51 | 1,131 | -4% | 1 in 300 |
| 2014 | 46 | 1,181 | -1% | 1 in 287 |
| 2013 * | 46 | 1,191 | -9% | 1 in 287 |
| 2012 | 44 | 1,316 | -12% | 1 in 270 |
| 2011 | 38 | 1,493 | -9% | 1 in 236 |
| 2010 | 34 | 1,632 | -2% | 1 in 216 |
| 2009 | 36 | 1,673 | -15% | 1 in 206 |
| 2008 | 29 | 1,973 | -2% | 1 in 175 |
| 2007 | 24 | 2,013 | -6% | 1 in 167 |
| 2006 | 23 | 2,147 | -13% | 1 in 152 |
| 2005 | 20 | 2,461 | -7% | 1 in 128 |
| 2004 | 19 | 2,643 | +0% | 1 in 118 |
| 2003 | 20 | 2,642 | +14% | 1 in 115 |
| 2002 | 22 | 2,318 | +7% | 1 in 125 |
| 2001 | 22 | 2,158 | -8% | 1 in 134 |
| 2000 | 19 | 2,333 | -3% | 1 in 126 |
| 1999 | 20 | 2,397 | -4% | 1 in 126 |
| 1998 | 22 | 2,485 | -3% | n/a |
| 1997 | 24 | 2,570 | -1% | 1 in 122 |
| 1996 | 21 | 2,595 | 1 in 122 |
* ONS’s girls’ 2013 file repeats the May total as April, so the 2013 births total is about 1,360 too high and 1 in X for 2013 is slightly too high. 1 in X is not shown for girls in 1998: one monthly total is missing from the ONS girls’ 1998 file. Rank follows ONS: names with the same count share a rank (shown with =). “Under 3” means the name was given to fewer than 3 babies that year, so ONS did not publish it.
Compare Abigail
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Abigail is in the free dataset (CSV and JSON), with the method and how to cite it.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0; National Records of Scotland; NISRA. Exact spellings are counted separately and names given to fewer than 3 babies are not published. Figures marked † are Baby Data calculations. How we calculate