9BabyNames Baby names with meanings & US popularity data

Violet vs Abigail

How Violet and Abigail compare across 146 years of US Social Security Administration baby-name records — popularity history, peak years, current rank, and which name overtook which.

Open Name Tournament

Violet

Female · Italian

Meaning: Flower

Abigail

Female · Hebrew

Meaning: "Father Rejoices."Some Variants Include Abagail, Abaigeal, Abbey, Abbie, And Abby. Diminutive, Gail, Also Exists.

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Violet (girls) vs Abigail (girls), from US Social Security Administration national records.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Names appearing fewer than 5 times per year are suppressed by SSA.

Quick Stats

Metric Violet Abigail
Peak year (most US births) 2025 — 7,546 girls 2003 — 15,932 girls
Peak rank #13 #6
Most recent rank (2025) #13 (7,546 births) #41 (4,941 births)
Total US births since 1880 142,559 383,135
Last 10 years (2016–2025) 57,867 78,822

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Abigail reached 15,932 US births in 2003 — 8,386 more than Violet's peak count.

Crossover Years

Years where one name first passed the other in annual US births. A name "winning" in a year means it had more births that year, not necessarily a higher rank.

Year New leader Violet births Abigail births
1989 Abigail 0 3,405
2022 Violet 6,471 6,300

Strongest States — Last 10 Years

States where each name ranked highest, from SSA's state-level dataset. Lower average rank = name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name list.

Violet — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Wisconsin #14 1,308
2 Minnesota #17 1,285
3 Maine #19 282
4 Iowa #20 701
5 Oregon #21 761

Abigail — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Virginia #12 2,260
2 Idaho #12 498
3 Maryland #14 1,391
4 Alaska #15 204
5 Oregon #15 907

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Data & methodology

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby names dataset 1880–2025 (CC0 public domain). Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a given year are suppressed by SSA. State-level coverage runs 1910–2025. Crossover detection compares annual birth counts (not ranks) for each year both names appear. Methodology: see full notes. More comparisons →