Abigail

In the First Book of Samuel, a woman rides out alone on a donkey to intercept a furious David and talk him out of slaughter — her name is Abigail, Hebrew Avigail, meaning my father's joy. The biblical Abigail is one of scripture's great diplomats, intervening between her foolish husband Nabal and the about-to-be-king David with a speech so eloquent that David sheaths his sword and later, when Nabal dies of a stroke, marries her. She is one of the few women in the Hebrew Bible whose words are recorded at length, and one of the very few who initiates her own marriage.

The name crossed into Puritan English in the seventeenth century, then onto the American frontier (Abigail Adams, the second First Lady, who corresponded extensively with her husband John during the Revolutionary period and is now considered one of the founding mothers; Abigail Smith Adams's letters were not published until decades after her death and have since become essential American primary documents). It now holds rank thirty-two in the United States, having sat in the top ten for most of the 2000s and 2010s.

Famous Abigails include Abigail Adams, Abigail Breslin (the Little Miss Sunshine actress), Abigail Spencer, and the title character of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Four syllables — AB-i-gayl — with a bright, lifted ending. Nicknames are unusually rich: Abby, Abbie, Gail, Abi, Gigi (a stretch), Abilene. Pairs beautifully with both biblical and modern middles (Abigail Rose, Abigail Mae, Abigail Wren, Abigail June). The full form has the solid feel of something ancient; the nicknames keep it modern.