Abraham

Where Abraham comes from

From Middle English Abraham, from Old English Abraham, from Late Latin Ābrahām, from Ancient Greek Ἀβρᾱᾱ́μ (Abrāā́m), from Hebrew אַבְרָהָם ('aḇrāhām, “Abraham”). Thomas L. Thompson suggests that the meaning of the name in Genesis was forgotten due to its age and that its original meaning was "Father is exalted." Glossed as אַב (aḇ, “father of”) + הֲמוֹן (hăˈmōn, “multitude of”) in Genesis 17:4–5; or from Hebrew אַבְרָם ('aḇrām, “Abram”). Doublet of Ibrahim, Avraham, Abramo, and Abrahan.
— Wiktionary's entry for Abraham
  • Hebrew
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1809
    Abraham Lincoln born
    president of the United States from 1861 to 1865
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #163 among boys — 81 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1908
    Abraham Maslow born
    American psychologist
  4. 1911
    Peak, #124
    292 babies named Abraham — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Hebrew.
Namesakes
  • Abraham Lincoln · president of the United States from 1861 to 1865, 1809–1865
  • Abraham Maslow · American psychologist, 1908–1970
  • Abraham Ortelius · Flemish cartographer, geographer and cosmographer, 1527–1598
  • Abraham de Moivre · French mathematician (*1667 – †1754), 1667–1754
  • Abraham in Islām · forefather of the Abrahamic religions from the Islamic perspective, born 1813 BC

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.