Abner

Hebrew

"father of light."

Abner Origin and Meaning

The name Abner is boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "father of light.".

This neglected Biblical name--it was the name of the commander of Saul's army and appears twice in the New Testament--is ready to flee Dogpatch. It was regularly used in the nineteenth century, but was pretty much demolished by the long-running hillbilly comic strip L'il Abner, which began in 1934 and ran through 1977. A more respectable namesake is Abner Doubleday, who has been credited with inventing baseball.

Abner also has literary credentials, having appeared in works by James Fenimore Cooper, Thomas Hardy and Eugene O'Neill.

Abner Popularity

• 971 US 2020
• 763 Nameberry 2022
• 18 Unique 2021
• 773 Future 2028