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Abner

#874 in 2025Boys' name

Father of light

Abner has been given to 9,454 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #874 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 293 recorded.

Babies named Abner, 2025

1 in 12,100

Abner over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Abner: meaning, origin, and history

Father of light

Hebrew

What Abner means

Abner means “father of light”, associated with Abner.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Hebrew אבנר (Abner, “father of light”). From אָב (av, “father”) + נור (nur, “light”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Abner (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Abner is used in English and Spanish. Its origins include Hebrew.

Abner comes through Hebrew אבנר.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Abner is pronounced /ˈæb.nɚ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 9,454 boys were recorded with the name Abner between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 293 in 2024; its best national rank was #289 in 1881.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #976 in 2020 to #874 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,019 in 2015 to #874 in 2025.

How common is Abner?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 12,100
274 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 6,230
0.02% of boys
Rank, 2025
#874
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
8,388 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Abner sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5004%

Put another way: gather 8,388 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Abner. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Abners were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Abner was born before 1998 — so the typical Abner is around 27 today.

Median birth year
1998
About 27 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
19.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
47.7%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
6,647
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 19.7% of all recorded uses (1,863).

Is Abner rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−36
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+102
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+145
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.38×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
93.5%
Peak was 2024 (293)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
9.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#289
1881

Spellings of Abner

Abner is not the most common spelling — Asher is, with 32.6% against Abner's 2.8%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Abner is used

Across 2016–2025, Abner was most concentrated in Maryland — about 1 in 3,571 boys, against 1 in 8,319 across all states with data. It was least common in Michigan (1 in 100,000).

128 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Maryland1 in 3,571
  2. 2Pennsylvania1 in 3,571
  3. 3Georgia1 in 5,882
  4. 4California1 in 6,667
  5. 5Colorado1 in 6,667
  6. 6Massachusetts1 in 6,667
  7. 7Texas1 in 6,667
  8. 8Virginia1 in 6,667

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Abner around the world

Where Abner ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2005–2025
    #1,705
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2024–2025
    #829
    in 2025
  • France
    2012–2024
    #4,683
    in 2024
  • Canada
    1994–2024
    #1,698
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1978–2010
    #754
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Abner

People whose public names include Abner, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Abner by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#874
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 102
Best rank ever
#289
1881
Peak year
2024
293 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
9,454
Count in 2025
274

Names similar to Abner

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

TurnerWarnerKonnerGunnerWernerSumnerGarnerConnerGardnerRainerTannerAvnerBannerRennerBrennerVernerJennerKennerEinerHunnerDannerRaynerTanerWagner

Names with a curve like Abner

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Abner, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

EnochTurnerLeightonEphraimFletcherAldenRansomZackAsaBishopLucienHampton

Sibling names for Abner

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Abner

Top names of 2024, Abner's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1881More old man namesBoys' names starting with A