Skip to content
BrazilNames BrazilNames
PT

Meaning of the nameAbner

Abner is a male name of Hebrew origin meaning 'father of light', the name of a cousin of King Saul in the Old Testament.

Meaning

“father of light”

Source: Wiktionary: Abner · Wiktionary: אבנר · Behind the Name: Abner

More names that mean light

People (2022)
26,092
Rank in Brazil
#900
Median age
11 years
2010 Census
12,571
people

Abner in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Abner, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 2010s (7,156 people).

261 women 25,831 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Abner is most common

States with the highest share of people named Abner in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Mato Grosso do Sul 0.023%
  2. Rio Grande do Norte 0.018%
  3. Acre 0.018%
  4. Mato Grosso 0.018%
  5. Roraima 0.017%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo6,9690.016%
Minas Gerais2,7130.013%
Paraná1,8840.017%
Rio de Janeiro1,4390.009%
Bahia1,3940.010%
Ceará1,2560.014%
Pará1,0710.013%
Pernambuco1,0130.011%
Rio Grande do Sul9700.009%
Goiás8350.012%
Santa Catarina7360.010%
Amazonas6590.017%
Mato Grosso6430.018%
Mato Grosso do Sul6220.023%
Espírito Santo6030.016%
Rio Grande do Norte5990.018%
Maranhão5650.008%
Paraíba3300.008%
Piauí3160.010%
Distrito Federal2880.010%
Alagoas2630.008%
Rondônia2400.015%
Sergipe1760.008%
Tocantins1550.010%
Acre1480.018%
Roraima1090.017%
Amapá960.013%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Abner

Abner comes from the Hebrew אַבְנֵר (ʾAvner), formed from ʾav, 'father', and a second element that Wiktionary reads as nur, 'light', or ner, 'candle', and Behind the Name as ner, 'lamp, light'; Wiktionary gives 'father of light' and Behind the Name, 'my father is a light'. It is the name of Abner, cousin of Saul and commander of his army in the Old Testament. It is a name on the rise: the number of records grows decade by decade up to those born in the 2010s. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 26,092 people named Abner, with a median age of 11. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil lists the variants Abiner, Abhner, Abnner and Habner.

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: Abner · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
  2. Wiktionary: אבנר · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
  3. Behind the Name: Abner · behindthename.com · meaning
  4. Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Abner · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name Abner

What does the name Abner mean?

Abner means “father of light”, according to Wiktionary and Behind the Name.

How many people are named Abner in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 26,092 people with the first name Abner, which ranks it number 900 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 2010s.

Is Abner a boy's or a girl's name?

Abner is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 261 women and 25,831 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Abner?

Abner is a name of Hebrew origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Abner most common?

Proportionally, in Mato Grosso do Sul: 0.023% of the state's population is named Abner (622 people), according to the 2022 Census.

Names that also mean light

See all

More names of Hebrew origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Abner with a source. See the methodology.