Abigale

Abigale is a modern English spelling variant of the Hebrew name Abigail, composed of the elements av, meaning father, and gil, meaning joy, giving the overall sense of my father is joy or father's joy. The name is borne in the Hebrew Bible by the wife of King David, praised for her wisdom and beauty. Abigail became widely used in the English-speaking world after the Protestant Reformation and later acquired the generic sense of a lady's maid in 17th- and 18th-century literature. Other related forms include Abigail, Abigayle, and Abagail.